St Etienne's US defender Carlos Bocanegra is ready for their big game against Olympique Lyon.

St Etienne currently are top of the standings in France.

"It feels good," Bocanegra told the league website. "But we're not really focusing on that at the moment. We're just trying to take it game by game."

Les Verts, expected to finish in the lower half, are surprisingly in first place through six games.

"The big thing at the moment in our success has been that it's a real team effort," said Bocanegra. "We've been lucky enough to score first in a lot of matches and then we've got a really solid block, not just the defenders, but everyone working hard."

A veteran of plenty of London derbies from his time with Fulham, the U.S. National Team captain says he's staying calm and cool ahead of the big Lyon match.

"The biggest thing for us is to go out there and play our game and not worry about all the extra stuff that comes with the derby - the fanfare and the media attention - because at the moment, we're playing well," he stated. "We need to stick with what we're doing.

"Lyon are still a very tough team to play against and in the derby, emotions are going to be running high on both sides. It's going to be a tough game, but we're heading into it full of confidence."