Strasbourg vs Monaco prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2022-08-05 15:00.
A disastrous 4-0 defeat on the final matchday saw Strasbourg finish outside the top five and miss out on European football, despite what was an impressive season. Their sixth-placed finish was still their highest top-tier finish since 1979/80 though, and Strasbourg are expected to aim high again despite a quiet time in the transfer market, especially as they come into this having lost just two of their last 16 league outings (W7, D7).
Strasbourg have, however, failed to win a home league opener since 2017/18, whilst also failing to score in the previous two such matches, but Julien Stephan’s men will try to pick up where they ended last season. That’s because Le Racing are unbeaten at home in league action in all of 2022 (W6, D3) and have beaten Monaco in their two previous home H2Hs ’to nil’.
Eight-time French champions Monaco finished third last season – their highest ranking since 2017/18, earning themselves a spot in the third round of UEFA Champions League qualifying where they secured a 1-1 draw against PSV on Tuesday. Monaco ended last season with a 11-game unbeaten run (W9, D2), but several players left since including Aurélien Tchouameni for the second highest transfer fee in Monaco’s history (€80.0m).
Failing to win their league opener for three seasons running (D2, L1), Monaco will try to avoid last season’s wait for an opening victory which didn’t arrive until round four. However, the Monégasques did notably win more league games than they lost on the road last season (W8, D5, L6) and actually haven’t tasted defeat in an away league game since March (W4, D1), which should give them confidence.
Players to watch: Strasbourg’s top league scorer from last season Ludovic Ajorque (12 goals) and Monaco’s Wissam Ben Yedder (25) both netted in the first H2H last term, whilst Ajorque has already scored five Ligue 1 goals against Monaco – the most he’s scored against single club in Ligue 1.
Hot stat: Strasbourg have lost the corner count in four of their last six home league matches, including the last H2H.