Monaco significantly improved their survival chances with away victories over Bordeaux and Arles, but Laurent Banide’s men have got to continue the rich vein of form in order to avoid the drop. Lille, on the other hand, are closing in on the Ligue 1 title, but they need all three points from this match in order to keep their advantage over the title rivals.

Monaco finally playing to their potential

Following some very promising displays last season, Monaco were expected to enter the race for the European places this term, but the team struggled to find their form from the very start of the season and are now in a position to fight for their lives. The club chiefs sacked coach Guy Lacombe midway through the season and brought talented Laurent Banide to replace him, and Monaco have indeed shown a lot of improvement under new boss. After sharing spoils with Caen and Valenciennes, Monaco beat Bordeaux and Arles away from home to close the gap behind safety to just one point and the victory over Lille would probably lift them out of the bottom three. There is no doubt that in Park, Niculae and Moukandjo Bile the hosts have enough attacking potential to hurt Lille, but their aging back line will be under extreme pressure from the best attack in the league.

Mahamadou Diarra is a major doubt with thigh injury, but Malonga, Traore, Maazou and Puygrenier remain sidelined.

Lille continue to dazzle

There is no doubt that Lille have fully deserved to win the league title this season and what looked like a mission impossible before the season started is now a realistic goal. Les Dogues have gone four points clear of their title rivals, having won their last four league games and Rudi Garcia’s side look simply unstoppable at the moment. The 3:1 victory over Caen was achieved with such an ease that Monaco players now have every reason to fear this game. The attacking trio of Hazard, Gervinho and Sow is scoring goals for fun, so nobody is really worried by the fact that Lille conceded in every one of their last four games. Les Dogues boast by far the best attacking record in Ligue 1 and Monaco don’t look like the team that can stop them from scoring, that’s for sure.

Adil Rami will return to the starting line-up after missing the Caen game, meaning that Rudi Garcia will be able to field his strongest line-up.

Verdict

Monaco have shown a lot of improvement lately and seeing the hosts have no choice but to attack Lille, we should see a very open game at Stade Louis II. Lille are expected to continue their scoring run, while Monaco will have a lot of space to exploit, so backing both teams to score looks like a good bet here.

Our prediction: Both teams to score

Odds: 2.00 (1/1)

Bookmaker: Paddy Power