Monacovs.Auxerre

A 3-2 victory over Rennes last weekend kept the Principality club in third place, with Auxerre remaining in 11th following a 1-1 draw versus Saint-Etienne.

Match preview

A magical moment in the opening half and relentless attacking pressure throughout the final 45 minutes enabled Monaco to return to the win column domestically last weekend.

That victory over Rennes ended a four-match winless run for them in the French top flight, and thanks to a Marseille defeat against Nice, they find themselves just three points back of second place.

One area of concern for this side of late has been their leaky backline, with Les Monegasques conceding a combined 10 goals in their last four Ligue 1 affairs, as many as they allowed in their previous 10, while they are coming off a 3-0 defeat versus Inter Milan in the Champions League.

Adi Hutter will hope to see a repeat of what his side displayed at this stage of their previous top-flight campaign, suffering just two defeats from matchday 20 until the end of the season, claiming 10 victories along the way.

Monaco have only won two of their last five home matches in this competition versus newly promoted teams and could lose consecutive games against such opponents for the first time since May-July 2001 (two), after Angers beat them 1-0 in November.

At the same time, they have won three consecutive Ligue 1 fixtures versus Auxerre and can equal their best winning run against them with a victory on Saturday (four between 1998-2000).

After a strong opening dozen matches in the Ligue 1 season, Auxerre have hit a wall, currently on an eight-game winless run across all competitions.

Seven of those matches were in Ligue 1, the second-longest current winless run for a side in this competition, with only Reims doing worse (winless in eight).

Christophe Pelissier's men failed to win two of those matches despite scoring first, dropping four points domestically as a result.

In their first season back in Ligue 1, AJA have rarely found their footing away from home, losing six of their eight contests outside Stade Abbe-Deschamps, while claiming just one victory (3-1 at Marseille).

Even with their recent struggles, the Burgundy club are much better off than they were in their previous top-flight campaign, currently on 23 points, 10 more than they had after 19 matchdays in 2022-23.

AJ Auxerre have not won a Ligue 1 contest in the Principality since defeating Monaco 1-0 in a December outing in 2009.

Monaco Ligue 1 form:

W

D

L

D

L

W

Monaco form (all competitions):

D

L

L

W

W

L

Auxerre Ligue 1 form:

D

D

L

D

L

D

Auxerre form (all competitions):

D

L

L

D

L

D

Team News

Les Monegasques are likely to be missing Folarin Balogun once again due to a shoulder strain, Wilfried Singo sat out last weekend with a knock and George Ilenikhena was sidelined because of a groin injury.

So far in the winter transfer window, the club said goodbye to Eliot Matazo, who signed with Championship side Hull City, while they agreed to sell Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe to Eintracht Frankfurt and Jordan Henderson, currently at Ajax is being linked with a move to the Principality.

Maghnes Akliouche scored arguably the goal of the Ligue 1 season last weekend to put his side up 1-0, while Mika Biereth and Aleksandr Golovin each netted early in the second half to provide them some insurance.

Cruciate ligament ruptures are likely to keep Lasso Coulibaly and Nathan Buayi-Kiala out of the Auxerre fold on Saturday, while Eros Maddy has a knock and Kevin Danois is dealing with a sore thigh.

Earlier this week, they officially signed Fredrik Oppegard to a three-and-a-half-year contract from PSV, while Gabriel Osho is eligible to return from suspension.

Hamed Traore had their opening goal against Saint-Etienne, the team-leading eighth of the Ligue 1 campaign for the man currently on loan from Bournemouth.

Monaco possible starting lineup:

Majecki; Vanderson, Kehrer, Salisu, Mawissa; Camara, Zakaria; Akliouche, Ben Seghir, Golovin; Biereth

Auxerre possible starting lineup:

Leon; Joly, Diomande, Jubal, Akpa, Mensah; Perrin, Diousse, Massengo, Traore; Sinayoko

We say: Monaco 3-1 Auxerre

Written by

Joel Lefevre

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