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PARIS -- Paris Saint-Germain remain on course for a historic unbeaten season in Ligue 1 after a 3-1 win over bitter rivals Olympique de Marseille in Le Classique on Sunday opened up a 19-point lead with 26 games played in France's top flight. Buoyed by their midweek UEFA Champions League heroics at Anfield, the Parisien giants raced into a two-goal lead through Ousmane Dembele and Nuno Mendes before Amine Gouiri hit back for Roberto De Zerbi's visitors only to be undone by a Pol Lirola own goal.

Fabian Ruiz, often a figure of frustration given his superior performances for the Spain national team compared with his club-level showings, managed a pair of assists in the opening 45 minutes before former PSG favorite Adrien Rabiot turned provider to reduce the arrears. Form-wise, the result was not a surprise, but it does keep Paris on course for an overdue unbeaten season which has not been seen since the classic FC Nantes side of 1994-95 who only lost once to RC Strasbourg Alsace late in the campaign.

The capital club could and perhaps should go one better than Les Canaris this term and Luis Enrique's men have taken a big step towards that with this result but the remainder of this season is littered with challenges considering the UCL and Coupe de France runs. There will be no complaining from PSG who have been craving this sort of developmental curve since altering the focus of the Qatari project two summers ago but it is true that there are still some challenging fixtures remaining as well as an unnecessarily complicated domestic schedule which will see Paris take on Nantes just 48 hours before facing Unai Emery's Aston Villa in Europe.

Les Parisiens have been in control of Ligue 1 from the start this year but have refused to let go of their authoritative hold of Le Championnat since the opening day although former iterations of this PSG side have tried and found ways to throw away similarly promising positions -- especially around key Champions League dates. Adding to that impressive almost 20-point advantage while remaining competitive in Europe could prove tricky but it is something that the French giants appear to have mastered so far and something that they will hope to maintain over the final eight games of this campaign.

There is arguably no real threat to that over the final few games with OGC Nice at home and RC Strasbourg Alsace the strongest remaining domestic opponents but everyone knows that Paris have been their own worst enemies in the past and that could yet prove to be the case this year. There is still time for much to happen in PSG's season and that should not exclude a treble given the way that their Champions League form has been reborn but a two-legged affair against English Premier League side Aston Villa threatens to challenge that claim thanks to the form of loanee Marco Asensio.

Ultimately, Luis Enrique has his Parisien side playing with confidence and capable of beating anyone right now so the question is to not take their eye off the ball domestically while the European adventure continues and possibly deepens with a semifinal outing. Regardless, though, this is a much different PSG to a few months ago and one which seems primed for success and not just domestically given their recent show of UCL strength at Anfield.