Nice and Monaco square off in a Ligue 1 fixture on Sunday with both teams attempting to recover from disappointing starts to the campaign. With both sides equally poor this season, there appears to be little to separate them at the moment.
Nice have endured a difficult start to the season having claimed just one win from their opening five matches. The good news is the season is only five fixtures in and there is still time to turn their fortunes around.
Lucien Favre’s men already appear to be showing signs of resurgence after seeing off Lille 2-1 in midweek for their first win of the season. They fought back from a goal down with first half efforts from Andy Delort and Nicolas Pepe sealing the win.
The next task for Nice will be to kick on in front of their fans as they seek their first home win of the season. The Allianz Riviera is generally a good hunting ground as they are unbeaten in seven of their last nine home matches.
While Nice appear to be improving, the reverse looks to be the case for Monaco with their campaign seemingly going downhill. They began with a 2-1 victory at Strasbourg and have not claimed a win since.
Philippe Clement’s men travel to Nice off the back of a 4-2 home defeat to Troyes in their midweek Ligue 1 fixture. They took an early lead through Guillermo Maripan but were quickly pegged back with Youssouf Fofana netting a consolation midway through the second half.
One thing that could give Monaco some confidence heading into Sunday’s clash is their record away from home. They have suffered just one defeat in their last 10 Ligue 1 matches on the road and held champions PSG to a 1-1 draw in their previous away fixture.
How the bookies view it
The bookies appear to be split on this one with a win for Nice priced at 20/11 by SBK while a Monaco victory is valued at 7/5 with William Hill. A draw is set at odds of 27/10 by SBK.
Head to head
Monaco have a 23-15 advantage with 10 draws from 48 previous matches against Nice. The Monegasques were unbeaten against Nice last season with the clash at the Allianz Riviera ending in a 2-2 draw.
Players to watch
Nicolas Pepe already has a goal for Nice following a loan move from Arsenal and could be worth considering to score anytime at 4/1 with Unibet. However, Andy Delort has been their standout player this season and with two goals already, could be backed in the same market at 12/5 with bet365.
Wissam Ben Yedder is yet to find the net this season but remains the biggest attacking threat for Monaco. The striker has scored three times in his last four appearances against Nice and is priced at 2/1 by bet365 to get on the score sheet on Sunday.
Anything else catch the eye?
The last meeting between both Nice and Monaco at the Allianz Riviera produced over 3.5 goals and a similar outcome is priced at 21/10 by Unibet. Over 2.5 goals is valued at odds of 4/5 with BetVictor while William Hill is offering 4/6 on both teams to score.
There were more goals after the break in the last meeting at the Allianz Riviera and Sunday’s clash could be tipped to follow a similar pattern at 11/10 with Paddy Power.
This Serie A match between Nice and Monaco will be played on Sep 4, 2022 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Nice vs Monaco prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
