Marseille and Lyon will hope their new attacking signings can spark an upturn in fortunes as they attempt to recover from poor starts to the French league season.
Defending champion Marseille, which lost its opening two matches of the season, has added strikers Loic Remy and Andre-Pierre Gignac to its squad while midtable Lyon has brought in forward Jimmy Briand and playmaker Yoann Gourcuff during the transfer window.
Both teams have the opportunity to display their new France internationals this weekend, with Marseille visiting Bordeaux on Sunday and Lyon taking on Lorient on Saturday.
Bordeaux, champion in 2009, has followed a different path because of financial constraints. The club has lost its two most prized assets from the past two seasons - Morocco striker Marouane Chamakh, who joined English club Arsenal on a free transfer, and Gourcuff, who left for Lyon for a reported fee of 22 million euros ($25 million).
Those moves raised questions about the club's capacity to contend for the title but coach Jean Tigana is adamant about his team's potential.
"In training sessions, it's perfect," Tigana said. "We aren't managing to reproduce it in matches and we must succeed in doing that. But we're on the right track."
Bordeaux has replaced Chamakh with Nigerian forward Moussa Maazou, who has joined on a year-long loan from Russian club CSKA Moscow.
Both Marseille and Bordeaux are looking to make up ground as they have only three points from three matches. Bordeaux picked up its first win of the season last weekend when it beat Paris Saint-Germain.
"PSG was one of the in-form teams at the start of this season," Bordeaux midfielder Alou Diarra said. "Beating them on their home turf can have a positive psychological impact and I believe it can kickstart our season."
Lyon seemed to adopt a new policy this summer, emphasizing youth development at the expense of costly transfers.
"It's true that we have a very young team," Lyon midfielder Maxime Gonalons said. "It's not easy. But we try to adapt."
The signing of Gourcuff, who has impressed since returning to French football after a spell in Italy, should improve Lyon going forward.
"It will increase competition within the squad but we know that Yoann can bring us a lot," Lyon midfielder Jean Makoun said. "Everybody knows his technical skills and his accuracy on set pieces."
Lyon has four points from its three opening matches and will play a Lorient team under pressure.
Lorient is in the relegation zone with just a point. Its defense has been weakened by the departures of Laurent Koscielny and Sylvain Marchal to Arsenal and Saint-Etienne, respectively, while Lamine Kone is also out for up to four months because of a fractured fibula.
Toulouse, which tops the standings with a maximum haul of nine points, hosts Nancy on Saturday.
"Those nine points are a small cushion," Toulouse coach Alain Casanova said. "They allow us to build up some self-confidence. So far, we haven't achieved anything yet. We will have to start from scratch every Saturday."
After selling Gignac to Marseille, Toulouse was able to sign promising forward Yannis Tafer on loan from Lyon for a year. Tafer won the European Championship with France's Under-19 team.
Also on Saturday, it's: Arles-Avignon vs. Rennes, Saint-Etienne vs. Lens, Valenciennes vs. Montpellier and Caen vs. Brest.
On Sunday, it's: Lille vs. Nice, Monaco vs. Auxerre and Sochaux vs. Paris Saint-Germain.
