Monaco and Nantes kick off the new French Ligue 1 campaign with a Friday night clash at the Stade Louis II. The hosts are looking to mount a bigger challenge to PSG and Lille and should make a good start against Nantes, who have been unconvincing lately.
Monaco are already in competitive mood and head into the season opener off the back of a fine showing in their UEFA Champions League third round qualifier. Goals in each half from Aurelien Tchouameni and Kevin Volland gave them a first leg 2-0 win at Sparta Prague.
Monaco finished third last season, five points off the pace and will be keen to once again run the leaders close. Manager Nico Kovac retained most of his key players, including Kevin Volland and top scorer Wissam Ben Yedder. They looked good in preseason, suffering just one defeat in six matches.
Home form was pivotal to Monaco’s campaign last term and they have won three of their last four Ligue 1 matches at the Stade Louis II. However, they will need to tighten up at the back having conceded four goals in their last two home fixtures.
Nantes are coming off a 2-1 defeat against Clermont in their final preseason fixture. They were second best throughout the contest and only grabbed a consolation through Samuel Moutoussamy.
Nantes are looking to avoid last season’s problems where they only beat the drop via the relegation playoffs. However, they showed little signs of improvement in preseason and head into Friday’s clash with four defeats from their last five matches.
The problem for Antoine Koumbouare’s men is they do not create much in attack having failed to score more than one goal in five of their last six matches. They are also shaky at the back and have kept just one clean sheet in their last nine matches across all competitions.
How the bookies view it
Monaco are considered overwhelming favourites among the bookies with a home win priced at 14/25 with novibet. SBK is offering 6/1 for an unlikely victory for Nantes while a draw is set at odds of 37/10 by Vbet.
Monaco often do their best work at home and should emerge victorious on Friday.
Head to head
Monaco have a 28-10 advantage with 10 draws from 48 previous matches against Nantes. They did the double over Nantes last season with both matches ending 2-1.
Players to watch
Wissam Ben Yedder was the top scorer for Monaco last season with 20 goals and could be backed to score anytime at 13/10 with Paddy Power. Strike partner Kevin Volland is already off the mark in the Champions League and could be worth a punt in the same market at 6/4 with betfair.
Forwards Randal Kolo Muani and Moses Simon were among the standout players for Nantes last season and could be worth keeping an eye on. Paddy Power has Muani at 4/1 to score anytime while betway is also offering 4/1 on Simon in the same market.
Anything else catch the eye?
There were goals for Monaco and Nantes in their last two meetings and both teams could be backed to score on Friday at 20/23 with MansionBet. Nantes saw over 3.5 goals in their last away fixture in Ligue 1 and a similar outcome is priced at 7/4 with bet365 while over 2.5 is set at odds of 7/10 with SBK.
Monaco can be backed to earn a win and over 2.5 goals at 6/5 with bet365 while they are also likely to score in both halves at 11/8 with William Hill.
This French Ligue 1 match between Monaco and Nantes will be played on Aug 6, 2021 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Monaco vs Nantes prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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