PSG vs Monaco: the key match of the round

The main event of the Ligue 1 round 18 will be a match between PSG and Monaco. Last season, the Monegasques beat the Parisians twice. Will they be able to repeat the success and reduce the gap from the leaders?  

Even though PSG lost points in the last 2 rounds of Ligue 1, the team is confidently leading the table, ahead of the nearest pursuer by 11 points. The Parisians still play well in attack, but the moment's realization fails at times. In the Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain confidently left the group, defeating Brugge (4-1) in the final match, so now the club will be able to focus on the home championship. Neymar, Sergio Ramos and Julian Draxler remain on the sideline, while 19-year-old defender Nuno Mendes was injured not so long ago.

Mauricio Pochettino's team drew 1-1 away with Lens in the last Ligue 1 round. Back in the first half, PSG had plenty of chances to take the lead but Mauro Icardi and Angel Di Maria missed two clear-cut chances before the break. With the score 0-1, Kylian Mbappe failed to outplay the goalkeeper in the 70th minute as well, and it was in the end that Georginio Wijnaldum restored the balance. The Parisians played well on defense, although they allowed their opponents 18 shots on goal. A serious mistake was made by goalkeeper Keylor Navas, which led to the only goal for Lens.

Monaco have traditionally been on the up after a poor start to the season, and now their unbeaten streak amounts to eight games. In Ligue 1, the team has already risen to seventh place in the table, and the gap from the second line has been reduced to 5 points. Also, Monaco successfully reached the 1/8 finals of the Europa League, without a single defeat in 6 rounds. Myron Boadu is still the main forward of the team, although he managed only 2 assisting points in 16 matches. Wissam Ben-Yedder is much more effective than the Dutch striker: In 4 rounds of the championship, he scored 3 goals, although he was in the starting lineup only once. The main loss on approaching the match with PSG was the suspension of Kevin Volland who has too many yellow cards. Krepin Diatta, Benoit Badiashile and Cesc Fabregas are still injured.

The previous day, Niko Kovac's charges played out an away draw with Austria's Sturm 1-1. Both goals were scored by the 30th minute, and in the second half, both teams could have scored twice. Well, in the last matchday of Ligue 1, Monaco left no chance to Nice - 4-0 at home. The Monegasques showed excellent execution: they scored 4 goals after 8 shots on goal, 1 of which was a penalty. The team acted in a disciplined manner in defenыe, although one of the crosses into the penalty area almost resulted in a missed goal. One of the main heroes of the meeting was Gelson Martins, who scored a goal and made an assist, and Aleksandr Golovin marked his fourth goal.

In their last 10 head-to-head encounters, PSG beat Monaco seven times. The previous face-off witnessed the Parisians beat the opponent in the French Cup 2-0. Prior to that, the Monegasques won in Ligue 1 by the same score. Paris Saint-Germain had only one real chance to score, while Monaco made the most of their chance.

• PSG won 9 of 10 home matches;
• Monaco won 4 of the last 10 away matches, suffering 2 defeats;
• PSG kept a clean sheet twice in the last 10 matches.

PSG need to improve their chances as they could have scored 2 or 3 goals in their recent games against Nice and Lens. Monaco is much less wasteful, and last season they defeated their current opponent thanks to that. On defense, however, the guests are still among the best in Ligue 1, they should not concede too much. The following betting options look great:

• Handicap Monaco (+1) for 2.20;
• Monaco Not To Lose + Total Over (1.5) for 3.60;
• X for 4.90.