Monaco to cement their place at the top of Ligue 1
With a trip to the Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City in their sights, Monaco travel to face Bastia in Ligue 1 on Friday night in an attempt to remain to top of the table.
What a fantastic season it has been so far for Monaco and they are the form team in the top European leagues. Trends show they are undefeated in their last eleven games in all competitions and since the turn of the year, they have won nine and drawn ten, with the draw coming at the Parc des Princes, against Paris Saint-Germain.
In their previous Ligue 1 game, Leonardo Jardim’s team looked fantastic going forward, as they have done for much of this season and took apart Metz with ease. In fact, the match was over as a contest inside 10 minutes, as Kylian Mbappe and Radamel Falcao both got on the scoresheet. Monaco were irresistible in attack and went on to create numerous chances, looking as though they could carve Metz open at will. Jardim will be without Gabriel Boschilia, who suffered a serious injury last weekend but otherwise, is expected to pick a full-strength team, which is ominous for Bastia.
Bastia are yet to win a game in 2017, losing five and drawing two of their seven games. Their last two Ligue 1 games has seen them concede 6 goals, scoring just 2 in reply and they will be glad this match is at home, having lost at both Toulouse and Montpellier. Having said that, Bastia’s home form is not much better and they have won only one of their previous nine home games in all competitions and have the second poorest home record in Ligue 1 this season. Manager, Francois Ciccolini, is coming under increasing pressure and the absence of Yannick Cahuzac and Nicolas Saint-Ruf, who were both sent off last weekend, does not help his or Bastia’s cause.
You must go back to 2011/12 to find the last time Bastia defeated Monaco which was a match played when both clubs were in Ligue 2. Since then, Bastia have lost seven Ligue 1 games in a row to Monaco and scored only 2 goals, while conceding 20, which makes for grim reading ahead of this encounter. Bastia have kept two cleans sheets in their last ten games, which is not the defensive record you want to offer before facing Europe’s most dangerous attacking team. Monaco have scored 75 goals in 25 Ligue 1 games this season, at an average of 3 per game, which is a tremendous record and with Bastia missing defensive players through suspension, Jardim’s team will be licking their lips at the thought of facing them.
The only saving grace for Bastia, is Monaco may have one eye on their upcoming Champions League match at Manchester City but even then, they should have enough to come away from this match with maximum points and a few more goals in the bank. A 3-0 away win is not out of the question.
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