One of the hottest teams in Ligue 1, Reims have a chance to win three consecutive matches domestically for the first time all season when they visit Stade Louis II for a date with Monaco on Sunday.
Since being eliminated from the Europa League, Monaco have fallen four points behind Marseille for second in the table, drawing 2-2 with Troyes last weekend, while Reims are six points back of a European place next season following a last-gasp 1-0 triumph over Ajaccio.
Match preview
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Over the past two campaigns, Les Monegasques have narrowly missed an automatic place in the Champions League group stage, and if they continue down their current path, it could be too late for them to finish in the top two this season.
It was another missed opportunity for Philippe Clement's side to keep pace with OM last Sunday, as they had the lead going into injury time but failed to hang on.
Not only have those two points dropped put more distance between themselves and Marseille, but it opened the door for Lens to overtake them for third and a place in the Champions League qualifiers, with Monaco and Les Sang et Or now tied at 51 points, though the Principality team are ahead thanks to having scored more goals.
Their poor form has been somewhat unexpected as they had won five consecutive matches in all competitions last month before being knocked out of the Europa League by Bayer Leverkusen on penalties.
Monaco have not won a domestic fixture all year when giving up the opening goal but are also unbeaten in 2023 when drawing first blood in a Ligue 1 encounter.
Reims have been a thorn in their side domestically at home, as Les Monegasques are winless in six successive matches against them at Stade Louis II.
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They left it late but in the end, Reims came away with three points to kick off the month of March as they continue to inch closer towards a spot in Europe next season.
It has been an extraordinary turnaround for Les Rouges et Blancs, who have not lost any of their last 18 matches in Ligue 1, the best current run in the top five European leagues.
Since the 2011-12 campaign and excluding Paris Saint-Germain, only their weekend opponents have ever had a longer unbeaten run in this competition (24 matches for Monaco between December 2016 and August 2017).
Will Still took charge of Reims in the middle of October, and since then, his team have piled up the points, claiming 32 in this competition under the Belgian, with only PSG accumulating more over that span (37).
While they have looked shaper in the attacking third under Still, this remains a team built to defend, and they have done that exceptionally well, conceding just seven goals in their previous 16 domestic encounters.
Reims have not conceded a goal in five straight matches in this competition, equalling their best run in the top flight since September-October 1946.
Team News
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Vanderson and Guillermo Maripan remain sidelined for Monaco with knee injuries, Mohamed Camara is out until the end of the month due to an ankle sprain and Eliesse Ben Seghir could miss the next few weeks because of an illness.
Wissam Ben Yedder notched a brace in three minutes last weekend, moving him into a tie for second in Ligue 1 scoring with Jonathan David (16) and two behind ex-Monaco striker Kylian Mbappe.
In their previous meeting versus Reims, this season, goals from Ben Yedder, Takumi Minamino and Aleksandr Golovin gave Les Monegasques a 3-0 win, with Alexander Nubel stopping six shots for the clean sheet.
Emmanuel Agbadou will miss the next few weeks for Reims because of muscle injury, while Still went with the same starting 11 versus Ajaccio as he had in their 3-0 victory over Toulouse.
A 95th-minute strike from Jens Cajuste enabled Reims to win last weekend, as Yehvann Diouf picked up his fifth successive clean sheet, putting him in a tie with PSG's Gianluigi Donnarumma for the most in Ligue 1 this season (11).
Folarin Balogun has 15 goals in this competition but has not scored in his last three league games, an own goal from Kevin Volland helped Reims draw level with Monaco in this exact fixture last season, while Arber Zeneli set up the winner in that encounter which came courtesy of former Rouge et Blanc winger Nathanael Mbuku.
Monaco possible starting lineup:
Nubel; Aguilar, Disasi, Sarr, Henrique; Minamino, Fofana, Matazo; Golovin; Ben Yedder, Embolo
Reims possible starting lineup:
Diouf; Foket, Keita, Abdelhamid, De Smet; Lopy, Matusiwa; Flips, Munetsi, Ito; Balogun
We say: Monaco 1-1 Reims
Eight of the 15 meetings between these teams this century have ended in a draw, and although momentum is on the side of Reims, Will Still's men are not creating as much on the counter, while Balogun is in a slump, so we project another stalemate in the Principality this weekend.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
