Nice hosts Monaco in round 38 of French Ligue 1. The match will be played on Friday, May 24th at Allianz Riviera (Nice)
Monaco managed to gain an important victory over Amiens. Now it’s enough for the Monegasques to avoid defeat in the final round in order to finish higher than Caen. Truth be told, the coach Jardim said that the struggle for preservation a place in Ligue 1 was not yet completed. Yes, the likelihood of a hammering defeat of Monaco and a confident victory of Caen in a parallel match is small, but recent visits to Nice have not been crowned with success for the Monegasques. They lost 4-0 there even in the championship season, and they will probably not succeed in the upcoming match, amid the poor game.
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Monaco regularly makes serious mistakes in defense. In addition, Subasic’s appearance is questionable. Perhaps, he is the only truly reliable player in the defensive structure of the team. Jardim will not take risks and will not dare play a leading part. The coach remembers how his team tried to win back after the halftime in the away game with Nimes, but as a result, it received dangerous counteractions in response. If the Crocodiles converted their attempts, Monaco would not have a comfortable advantage over Caen in goal difference.
Extremely cautious play in Nice will allow the Monegasques to implement Plan B, that is, to avoid a crushing defeat. The transfers of Favre and Plea to Bundesliga significantly affected the scoring of the Eaglets. Balotelli, who was once again reanimated by the ex-coach of Nice, did not score a single ball under the management of a new coach. As a result, Nice scored only 28 goals for the entire season. With this performance, it is not surprising that the team scored more than one time only in 5 out of 37 matches.
There is no reason to expect a sudden breakthrough from the hosts because of their low scoring. However, Nice is able to score once. Thus, the men of Vieira looked very well in the away match with Saint-Etienne. The onslaught on the opponent’s box didn’t allow breaking the shutout, but the Eaglets created several goal attempts and just failed to convert them. At home, Nice failed to score in only 1 of 10 previous matches. To score the Monegasques, which even conceded from Guingamp, is more than a doable task.
It is important to understand that Nice not only acts effectively in the attack in the home arena but also reliably defends. In 18 home games, the Eaglets conceded only 14 goals. Moreover, the men of Vieira even kept a clean sheet in half of the home matches. Nice even managed to hold back the attack of such teams as Lille and Lyon. Over the past 3 months, the defense of the Eaglets has faltered only in a duel with Saint-Etienne; in the other 10 matches, only 5 goals were conceded. Obviously, it will not be easy for the Monegasques to answer with their own goal.
While playing away with Rennes, Guingamp and Nimes, Monaco was considered an obvious favorite, but it earned only 2 points. In general, the ex-champions of France have only 4 away victories. Monaco did not beat Nice even in the home field, despite the numerical advantage after the halftime. It seems that we should not expect a successful performance at Allianz Riviera from the men of Jardim. As well as the victory of the visitors, the scoring extravaganza is unlikely. We saw less than 4.5 goals in all 37 matches of Nice and 34 matches of Monaco in the current French championship.
Prediction for the match: Nice to win with +0.5 handicap and Under 4.5 goals scored
