Monaco vs Nantes prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2024-05-18 19:00.
[p]The final day of Ligue 1 couldn’t be much more easy going for Monaco, who are simply looking to end their season on a high given that they’re guaranteed to finish in second place no matter what happens here. Securing that position by this stage has largely been down to a run of six victories across their last seven league games (L1), which is the same amount as they had managed across their 15 league outings prior (D5, L4). [/p]
[p]Despite that uptick in form, Monaco have been known to tail off at the end of the season in recent years, failing to win any of their last four Ligue 1 season finales (D2, L2). Bucking that trend wouldn’t be too surprising against Nantes, given Monaco boast an ongoing 11-game Ligue 1 H2H unbeaten streak (W7, D4), albeit with the four draws in that sequence occurring within the last five meetings.[/p]
[p]Much like their hosts, Nantes have nothing to play for besides position in the final day after already securing their safety. Losing wouldn’t be the biggest shock after a four-game winless run ahead of this (D2, L2), although Antoine Kombouaré knows this opposition well (W6, D10, L13) having only faced Lyon more often in his managerial career. [/p]
[p]It’s difficult to make a case for Nantes to improve that record given they’ve lost more than half of their league games this season (18/33). It means that regardless of the result here, they’ll finish a Ligue 1 season with more than 50% of their games ending in defeat for the first time ever. To their credit, they have largely maintained their dignity when losing to the best performing sides of this season, with none of their five defeats to top-four opponents coming with a losing margin of more than two goals.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Monaco will welcome back Takumi Minamino from suspension, the man who kickstarted their comeback in the reverse 3-3 draw and has seen three of his last five goals serve as match openers. Mostafa Mohamed put Nantes 1-0 and 3-1 up in the reverse, but he has unfortunately won just three of his last ten scoring appearances (D4, L3). [/p]
[p]Hot stat: Monaco have a chance to secure a 6+ game unbeaten run of home league outings in one season for the first time since 2021/22 (W3, D2). [/p]