Adi Hutter's in-form, confident Monaco side welcome Le Havre to the Stade Louis II for a Ligue 1 clash on Sunday afternoon.

Monaco enter the fixture on the back of an excellent Champions League win over Barcelona in the week, marking their return to competition with three points after six years away.

Match preview

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In what was largely a fine week for French clubs in the Champions League, with three of their four representatives winning, Monaco's success was arguably the most eye-catching of any result across the competition.

An early red card to Barca's Eric Garcia helped, but ending their 100% start to the season was a real scalp for Hutter's Monaco, who have made a superb start to the campaign themselves.

Two attackers with a combined age of just 40 scored the two goals for Monaco, with George Ilenikhena netting the winner after Lamine Yamal had cancelled out Maghnes Akliouche's opener in what was a night for the young talent on display.

The fact that Eliesse Ben Seghir and Lamine Camara both starred in the Monaco XI shows what an exciting youthful squad Hutter has at his disposal.

Thursday's win extended their unbeaten start across all competition to five matches, four of which have ended in victory, after recording a 3-0 win over Auxerre in their last league outing.

Entering the weekend third, unbeaten in eight home league games, and making the best defensive start to a season in 64 years - conceding just one so far - Monaco are rightly big favourites to get the better of their upcoming opponents here.

Another reason for that favourites tag is due to the fact that Monaco have lost only two of their previous 19 matches against Le Havre in all competitions - winning 12.

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In the top flight though, Le Havre have been relatively successful when making the trip to the principality, having not lost a Ligue 1 game here since 2000.

The visitors have proven to be no pushovers so far, holding out for 85 minutes against Paris Saint-Germain before caving in late on, before beating St Etienne and Auxerre.

A respectable performance last time out against Toulouse counted for nothing in the end as Didier Digard's side lost 2-0, but there were positives to take from it once again, as they ended the weekend still in the top half.

This group of Le Havre players have the opportunity to do something that no other has managed since 1953, and win three of their opening five Ligue 1 matches, but there is no doubting it will be a huge ask.

Taking anything from their next three league games will be a challenge, considering all of their opponents in that time finished in the top four last season, so if Le Havre can maintain their mid-table position after that run of games, it will be a great achievement in what has been an unforgiving start, having already faced PSG too.

Team News

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There are no new injury concerns for Monaco after the midweek win over Barcelona, with Edan Diop and Radoslaw Majecki still sidelined.

The hosts will also be without Mamadou Coulibaly, who has not featured since a 4-0 win over Nantes back in May, because of a knee injury.

After some rotation with the Barca game in mind when facing Auxerre last week, Hutter is likely to go full strength again and there could be no changes from the side that won in Europe.

A knee injury has kept Le Havre's Andy Logbo out for a considerable amount of time, but the signs are that he is making good progress and could return in the near future.

Despite their good form so far, Digard has often chopped and changed his side in the opening four games, and more alterations could be in store here, as well as a formation switch.

Loic Nego should come back into the side as Le Havre may switch to a back five, with Russian international Daler Kuzyaev in danger of dropping out.

Monaco possible starting lineup:
Kohn; Singo, Kehrer, Salisu, Vanderson; Camara, Zakaria; Akliouche, Minamino, Ben Seghir; Embolo

Le Havre possible starting lineup:
Desmas; Nego, Sangante, Youte Kinkoue, Lloris, Operi; Ndiaye, Kechta, Toure, Targhalline; Soumare

We say: Monaco 2-0 Le Havre

Monaco have been exciting, full of exuberance and strong at the back in their opening five games of the season, and that should continue here even if Hutter opts to make one or two personnel changes.

Le Havre have made a promising start under Digard, but this Monaco side is loaded with plenty of quality and the stars would need to align for the visitors to take anything from their travels here.


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Written by
Andrew Delaney

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