At first glance, Amiens do not seem equipped to be a Ligue 1 club. They have never won a major trophy; this is their first season in the top flight in 116 years; and their pokey Stade de la Licorne would not look out of place in League Two. Nevertheless, their upward trajectory has been close to vertical in recent times. They finished third in the Championnat National, France’s third division, in 2015-16 and earned their second successive promotion 12 months later by finishing as runners up in Ligue 2. Their latest triumph came on Friday night, when they drew 1-1 with the champions Monaco.

France’s third division is a true footballing backwater. Not even considered fully professional, nearly half of the league’s average gates have dropped into the hundreds this season. Unsurprisingly, stories of clubs ascending through the divisions – like Hull City in England or Paderborn in Germany – are rare. Amiens are the archetypal National club, provincial and comparatively sparsely supported.

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However, low expectations and minimal funds have never been problems for their manager, Christophe Pélissier. In 2007 Pélissier took the reins at Luzenac, a club from the sleepy Pyrenees town with a population of little more than 600 playing in CFA2, French football’s sprawling fifth tier. Seven years later, having been close to extinction in that time, Luzenac were bound for Ligue 2. A murky decision by France’s overly aggressive financial watchdog denied the club a momentous promotion due to concerns over their stadium. Luzenac lost their professional status and their manager. “To leave like this after a remarkable season was really hard to bear. The word ‘mourning’ may be strong, but we have been deeply affected by this,” said Pélissier.

Pelissier eclipsed his success with Luzenac when he took Amiens to Ligue 1 in the most dramatic way imaginable. There was a six-way battle for a promotion spot on the last day of the season and Amiens clinched it when Emmanuel Bourgaud scored a 96th-minute winner against Reims. The club’s president, Bernard Joannin, said before the game he had given the country’s new president, Amiens native Emmanuel Macron, a signed shirt that had brought them both luck.

Pélissier has remained loyal to the players who won consecutive promotions. When Amiens beat Nice 3-0 in August – their first ever victory in the top-flight – Bourgaud was one of six players on the pitch who had also turned out for the club in their final match in the third tier.

Defensive solidarity has been key both last season and this. After some shaky early displays, Régis Gurtner is proving to be the assured and commanding goalkeeper every promoted side needs. Khaled Adénon marshals a thrifty backline that boasts a defensive record superior to that of Lyon, Marseille and St Étienne with just 14 goals conceded in 12 games. And the captain, Thomas Monconduit, completes the defensive spine at the base of the midfield. The 26-year-old’s composure, stamina and range of passing stand out now in the way they did in the lower divisions. All three men are veterans of the National promotion campaign.

The headline arrival in the summer was Gaël Kakuta and he has rapidly become the side’s talisman

Although he relies on a handful of lieutenants, Pélissier has proven he can reinvent and remould his side despite having minimal resources and a relatively high turnover in some areas of the squad. Jonathan Tinhan was the team’s top scorer when he was sold to rivals Troyes last winter. Aboubakar Kamara, his successor, moved to Fulham (where he has attempted to reinvent himself as “AK-47”) upon promotion. The teenage midfield powerhouse and the club’s biggest asset, Tanguy Ndombélé, joined Lyon this summer and his partner in midfield, Guessouma Fofana, broke his leg in training in August and is likely to be out all season. All four losses could have proven significant potholes, but Pélissier and his staff have shown an ability to cultivate their squad.

Amiens lost their first three games of the season without scoring a goal and the weak performance against Angers in particular drew worrying parallels with the lowly Troyes of 2015-16 or Arles-Avignon in 2010-11. But summer signings have proven crucial to their continued success. The South African enforcer Bongani Zungu and stoic centre-back Prince Gouano arrived, as is fashionable in France, from Portugal. Both have proved crucial to Amiens’ aggressive, bulky, counterattacking style. The full-back Issa Cissokho, journeyman midfielder Mathieu Bodmer and Lacina Traoré, Monaco’s top scorer as recently as two seasons ago, have added crucial Ligue 1 experience. The Senegal forward Moussa Konaté, who joined from Sion, and winger Serge Gakpé, who has returned to France after excursions in Serie A with Chievo and Genoa, have added attacking quality. Pélissier brought in 15 players in the summer, with only a few leaving. Unusually for a promoted side, Amiens have genuine strength in depth, so much so that Pélissier has bemoaned a need to keep each member of his unwieldy squad happy.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The former Chelsea forward Gaël Kakuta vies for the ball with Monaco’s Fabinho. Photograph: Benoit Tessier/Reuters

The headline arrival in the summer was Gaël Kakuta. Still only 26, Kakuta’s failure to establish himself in England preceded undulating form in Spain before self-imposed exile in China. But for Pélissier, adept at maximising talent, Kakuta has rapidly become the side’s talisman. He gave a standout display in the draw with Monaco on Friday, when Amiens came close to winning through Gakpé’s goal before Steven Jovetic scored an equaliser.

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Nevertheless, Amiens are still a long way from survival. Their draw with Monaco still leaves them in the bottom three, but 12 points from their first 12 matches should be considered a productive start given how much the squad has changed. The signs are good. The Monaco game was their fifth consecutive match without defeat, while their play is starting to morph from overtly defensive to being bold on the break and confident in their use of the ball. And, despite being 19th, they remain just four points from the top half.

As Monaco found out on Friday night, Amiens are a tight, bold, effective unit. As Péllissier finally takes the applause his inspirational management deserves, his eclectic group of third division veterans, foreign unknowns and forgotten gems could have the right mix to surpass expectations once again.



Ligue 1 talking points

• It was another missed opportunity for Toulouse on Saturday at the Stade Municipal against bottom side Metz. Despite playing for almost 70 minutes against the 10 men of the league’s worst defence, the hosts failed to breach Thomas Didillon’s goal and had to settle for a scoreless draw. The youngster made a fine save at close range from Christopher Jullien and Yaya Sanogo struck the bar, but Toulouse can have only themselves to blame after such a disappointing result. More worrying is that this result seems to be part of a larger trend. After a bright start to the season, Toulouse have scored just four goals in the league since August – and they are bottom of the division in that category. A solid defence (only Montpellier have a better record in that time) has kept relegation at bay but one might begin to wonder if that same defence, many of whom were the subject of transfer rumours in the summer, may want to leave the club if the attack can’t provide a realistic shot at European football. Still just three points off Caen in sixth, there is time for the team’s attack to coalesce, and a return to form from Max Gradel, who has struggled with injury, could yet prove key in this regard. Still, if results don’t improve soon, Pascal Dupraz could find himself under pressure despite his achievements to date.

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• Lyon were similarly feckless at home on Sunday, delivering a scoreless draw against Montpellier. There is little shame in the result in isolation, as Michel Der Zakarian has quietly moulded his team into France’s most defensively sound one, but coming as it did with Ellyes Skhiri and Daniel Congré absent, it was particularly frustrating, especially as Monaco had dropped points; a win for Lyon would have moved them to within a point of the champions, who play Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday. Lyon will have a chance for revenge in the Coupe de la Ligue next month but the result shows that, despite their thumping win over Troyes without Nabil Fékir, Lyon are still too reliant on their captain. As Lyon come into the cup competitions in the next six weeks and look set to continue their Europa League campaign, Bruno Génésio must work on setting out a side that can be as imperious even without their talisman. Fékir is their leader and focal point in attack, but too often Lyon’s team play suffers in his absence, and that was in evidence again on Sunday as Memphis Depay, Maxwel Cornet and even the normally unselfish Houssem Aouar were all guilty of trying to do too much. Lyon have all the weapons to push Monaco for second place but there is still much work to be done.

Ligue 1 results

Results: Lille 3-1 St Étienne, Amiens 1-1 Monaco, PSG 4-1 Nantes, Dijon 3-1 Troyes, Guingamp 1-1 Angers, Strasbourg 2-1 Rennes, Toulouse 0-0 Metz, Caen 1-1 Nice, Lyon 0-0 Montpellier, Bordeaux 1-1 Marseille