Monaco vs Strasbourg prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2023-04-01 15:05.
Following an unwanted three league game winless run (D1, L2), Monaco kept their Champions League qualification ambitions alive with a 2-0 win at strugglers AC Ajaccio before the international break. That made it 13 more points on the board than what they had at this stage of last season, yet they came into the round sitting in fourth place, three points behind Lens and one position lower than where they finished in each of the last two campaigns.
Despite not being guaranteed an improvement in terms of league placing this season, Monaco Sporting Director Paul Mitchell announced over the break that he was to leave the club at the end of the season, commenting that he felt he had “completed his mission”. However one of the players he helped to bring in, forward Breel Embolo – who has scored 12 Ligue 1 goals – is set to face an extended spell on the sidelines with a knee injury picked up in his last appearance.
That will hand visitors Strasbourg some belief they can extend what’s been a solid run of results at Monaco in recent seasons, having lost just one of their last four away H2Hs (W2, D1). More recently, they are on course to extend their longest winless away run of the campaign if they fall short here, just as they have in each of their last four road trips (D2, L2).
Despite that, there have been positive signs under new manager Frédéric Antonetti since his appointment in mid-February. Under Antonetti, Strasbourg have lost just one Ligue 1 game (W2, D2), a period that has subsequently helped them climb out of the bottom four to go three points clear of the relegation zone coming into this weekend’s action.
Key battle: Monaco’s Ligue 1 defensive record is mid-ranking so far this season (GA: 37), but it could have been much worse if it hadn’t been for goalkeeper Alexander Nübel who had made the most Ligue 1 saves (100) of the season at the end of the previous gameweek. Facing him here is target man Habib Diallo who scored for Strasbourg last time out as well as for Senegal during the break. He’s also remarkably won more aerial duels (89) than any other Ligue 1 player coming into the round.
Hot stat: Only one Ligue 1 side had scored more first-half goals than Monaco (28) ahead of this round.