Monaco will be looking to snatch a spot on the Ligue 1 podium when they travel to face dethroned champions Lille in the weekend's opening game at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy on Friday evening.
The hosts are now out of the running for the European spots, sat down in 10th in the standings, whilst Monaco come into the weekend in fourth.
Match preview
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The most optimistic Lille fans may still have fancied their teams chances of breaking into the top five after they bounced back from two defeats thanks to a late winner from Zeki Celik at home to Strasbourg on April 24.
That optimism will have come crashing down with a disastrous performance, though, away against a relegation-threatened Troyes side last weekend.
Jocelyn Gourvennec's side may have dominated much of the first half but things would crumble after ESTAC took the lead through a penalty just before the break.
First, Renato Sanches talked himself into a second yellow card, then the hosts put a second penalty away, then Burak Yilmaz's wild lunge saw Lille reduced to nine, and finally, salt was applied to the wound as Troyes made it 3-0 with a third penalty.
The performance earned Les Dogues the unwanted statistic of becoming the first team to receive two red cards and give away three penalties in a Ligue 1 game for 30 years and saw them all but officially drop out of the running for a spot in Europe, now nine points behind fifth-placed Nice with three to play.
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Life on the South Coast, on the other hand, continues to get brighter - not just in terms of the improving weather, but as a result of Monaco's impressive recent performances.
They picked up another comfortable 2-0 win over struggling Angers at the weekend as top scorer Wissam Ben Yedder's goal on the hour mark sealed the result after an own goal from the unfortunate Abdoulaye Bamba late in the first period.
The win extends Les Monegasques' winning streak to seven matches - stretching all the way back to their surprise 3-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in mid-March - which is the best ongoing run across all of Europe's big five leagues.
Two consecutive wins for Rennes leaves the pair glued together, level on points in the battle for the final step of the podium and the Champions League football which that provides.
With Les Rennais boasting the far superior goal difference, Philippe Clement will have to hope that they slip up in the remaining three games and that his side can stretch their impressive run a bit further.
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Team News
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Gourvennec will of course be without the suspended Sanches and Yilmaz after their aforementioned red cards, and could well make other changes in the wake of that poor performance.
Jonathan Bamba made his return from injury during the game against Troyes, whilst Xeka and Hatem Ben Arfa are also closing in on returns.
It would be a big help for Les Dogues if the former can make it back in time for Friday's game as he would be able to fill in the hole left by Sanches, but playing the full 90 would likely be too big of an ask even if that is the case.
Monaco, meanwhile, will be getting players back from suspension, rather than losing them, with Axel Disasi, Aurelien Tchouameni and Vanderson having completed their respective bans last weekend.
Their return will likely see Guillermo Maripan, Eliot Matazo and Ruben Aguilar return to the bench respectively, but Clement is unlikely to make many changes from his current winning formula.
Lille possible starting lineup:
Jardim; Celik, Fonte, Botman, Gudmundsson; Zhegrova, Andre, Xeka, Weah; Gomes; David
Monaco possible starting lineup:
Nubel; Vanderson, Disasi, Badiashile, Henrique; Fofana, Tchouameni; Martins, Volland, Golovin; Ben Yedder
We say: Lille 1-2 Monaco
The hosts will be determined to bounce back and make amends for their last showing, but realistically they now have very little to play for in these final three games. That, combined with Monaco's current form, should see Les Monegasques edge what should still be a tight game.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Lille win with a probability of 39.59%. A win for Monaco had a probability of 32.91% and a draw had a probability of 27.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Lille win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.44%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.28%) and 2-0 (7.29%). The likeliest Monaco win was 0-1 (10.2%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.99%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 7.4% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a 1-2 win for Monaco in this match.
