In the previous few seasons Lens did not appear so impressive but last season they managed to become runners-up with 84 points and only 1 point difference with PSG who had 85 points but this season they have failed to maintain the best performance they have for League 1.
The deal is that I not so sure that Lens can be like last season being a great competitor for all League 1 teams.
Even though it is true that if they managed to beat Arsenal with a score of 2 - 1 for the UCL this will not guarantee that Lens will be able to give their best for the UCL because several teams from the Bundesliga and Premier League will definitely be able to easily get rid of Lens from the UCL.
Never judge team strength just because it has won one or two times but look at it as whole especially for the UCL which is filled with top teams from every league in Europe.
The performance of Lens last season was very good. They competed for the title. They were a bit unlucky so they didn't win the title. The team was only 1 point behind PSG. And because of such a great performance last season, fans have high expectations from Lens this season. But the lens started the season very badly.
Lens coach Franck Haise is trying to stabilize the team gradually. And so far he seems to be quite successful. We have seen better performances from Lens in the last few matches. Their performance has stabilized. After a big win against Arsenal, the Lens players will be more confident. In the upcoming matches, we may see a better performance from Lens.
One of the reasons Lens's performance has improved is because they've been able to tighten up their defense. They have conceded a lot of goals in the opening few matches of the season. But Lens defenders have been playing very well in the last few matches.
Yes as we know and indeed last season many fans thought that Lens would be able to compete with PSG and win the title but they all failed because they were still 1 point behind PSG.
However many fans were disappointed with their achievement as runners-up and there were also those who felt proud because Lens had surpassed the other teams so that they had big chance of becoming League 1 champions even though they could not achieve this yet.
If only in the middle of the season Lens can perform well then it is very likely that they will become one of the top teams which will make it difficult for other teams to hold first place until this season is over.
Franck Haise is trying hard to make Lens appear as impressive as last season and it can be seen that Lens is slowly showing an improved quality of play.
Even though it will be difficult to win the title at least it will be possible to get runner-up again so next season Lens can get ticket to the UCL like they got last season.
And currently in group B Lens is leading with 4 points because in the first match against Sevilla they were only able to draw 1 - 1.