Ligue 1 
Monaco welcomes Montpellier at noon this Sunday at the Stade Louis II in a game that could bring the hosts closer to the fight for the second Champions League spot.
The Red and Whites have a tough battle for the second spot this season, with current second-place Marseille having a six-point lead as of right now. Another barrier is third-place Lens who are five points ahead after an impressive season.
Monaco have 18 wins, seven draws and seven losses in their 32 games. There is a five-point buffer to fifth-place Lille and as it stands Monaco will progress directly into the Europa League group stages.
In their last five Ligue 1 games, The Red and Whites have three wins, a draw and a loss. The three wins came against ten-man Ajaccio, Lorient and Strasbourg where Monaco had Youssouf Fofana sent off. Monaco drew 2 - 2 with Nantes where they squandered a 2 - 0 lead due to goals from Axel Disasi and Eliot Matazo. The loss is the most painful for Monaco as they handed the advantage to Lens with a 3 - 0 loss.
Montpellier has had an average season, sitting in the same place, 13th, as they finished in the 2021/22 season. The visitors have a seven-point gap from them to 14th place Auxerre, but above them is a lot closer. Between eighth-place Reims and Montpellier in 13th is only seven points, so the visitors could make a big move up the table with a win at Monaco.
So far this season, Montpellier have played 32 games, winning 12 games, drawing four and losing 16. However, in their last five games, Montpellier have two wins, a draw and two losses. In both of their recent wins, Montpellier has suffered red cards. After a double from Elye Wahi gave Montpellier a 2 - 1 win over Clermont Foot before Jordan Ferri was sent off in added time. Despite losing Teji Tedy Savanier early in the second half, a goal from Stephy Mavididi gave Montpellier a 1 - 0 win over Rennes. The one draw was an impressive 1 - 1 draw over second-place Marseille and the two losses came against Lille and Toulouse.
Monaco and Montpellier have only met 20 times in their histories. The hosts have the advantage in the fixture with 11 wins to Montpellier’s three, with the teams sharing the points on six occasions.
The two players to watch this Sunday are Monaco’s Ben Yedder and Montpellier’s Wahi. Ben Yedder has had an impressive season, scoring 17 goals in 28 games and averaging a goal every 107 minutes. Wahi has also found the back of the net consistently this season. The Frenchmen has 13 goals in 28 games and a shot accuracy of 73%.
