AS Monaco vs Olympique de Marseille 03/09/18

03 September 2018

AS Monaco, who significantly changed the face of the squad during the summer, will host Olympique de Marseille at the Stade Louis II, hoping for a positive outcome that might help them get out of a crisis that’s troubling them at the moment. Before achieving an encouraging 3-1 win over Nantes on the opening Ligue 1 matchday, Les Monégasques have suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the French Super Cup Final, which apparently left some negative consequences on many youngsters in the dressing room. The team from the principality are yet to score a goal in the first half this season, and after playing out a0-0 draw with Lille at home, they once again failed to impress, losing 2-1 to Bordeaux on the road. The same goes for the Phocaeans, who lost 3-1 to Nimes and drawn 2-2 with Rennes after defeating Toulouse at home by four goals to nil in their first match of the season. Although they have managed to keep all of their key players from last year, it seems that the Olympians are yet to start up the engines, and the encounter with Monaco may be the right time for them to demonstrate their full potential.

Leonardo Jardim won’t have Ronaël Pierre-Gabriel, Andrea Raggi, Aleksandr Golovin, and Stevan Jovetic, as all of them are struggling with injuries. As for the visitors, Steve Mandanda and Rolando are on the sidelines due to some physical problems, while the appearance of the latest signing Kevin Strootman still hangs in the balance.