Monaco-Auxerre is a Ligue 1 Week 21 match and is played on Wednesday at 21:00: stats, likely formations, predictions.
Among the teams still unbeaten in Ligue 1 since resuming play after the Qatari World Cup is Monaco. The Principality’s club kicked off in December with double wins over Auxerre and Brest, then drew with Lorient and Marseille and overwhelmed Ajaccio 7-1 at ‘Louis II’.
A string of positive results interspersed with elimination from the Coupe de France by little Rodez, who surprisingly prevailed on penalties. On Saturday, however, Philippe Clement’s red-and-whites withstood an all-out assault by their Marseille cousins, who were also blessed by Lady Luck: having taken the lead after 17 minutes thanks to Veretout’s own goal, the Monegasques limited themselves to containing Igor Tudor’s team for the remainder of the match, rarely coming close to Blanco’s defence. It was a precious point that on the one hand prevented Marseille from carving a furrow between third and fourth place (occupied by Monaco), and on the other prevented Rennes, beaten by Lorient in the Breton derby, from overtaking them.
Auxerre are sinking
Monaco are looking for their fourth win in their last five home games as they look to keep pace with their rivals in the midweek session.
Bearing the second most prolific attack in the league after that of Psg (43 goals scored) Clement and his team host the newly promoted Auxerre, beaten in a pyrotechnic 2-3 in the first leg, played on 28 December. On that occasion, the Monegasques only managed to get the better of the opponents five minutes from the final whistle thanks to a goal from Ben Seghir after they had been caught midway through the second half. Today, as then, the Burgundians struggled to break out of their crisis and since the arrival of new coach Christophe Pelissier, they have won just one game in ten, just passing the round in the Coupe de France.
The Prediction
Auxerre share with Ajaccio the worst offensive numbers in the league and at the same time are a team that concedes a lot of goals (second worst defence). It is therefore unlikely that the white and blue team will score against a healthy, prolific Monaco, who have been on a winning streak for several weeks. Let’s assume a comfortable victory for Clement’s men, in a match with at least two goals in total.
The likely line-up for Monaco-Auxerre
- MONACO (4-4-2): Nübel; Vanderson, Disasi, Maripan, Caio Henrique; Diatta, Fofana, Camara, Golovin; Embolo, Ben Seghir.
- AUXERRE (4-3-3): Radu; Zedadka, Janvier, I. Touré, Mensah; M’Changama, B. Touré, Raveloson; Da Costa, Niang, Perrin.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-0
