After a heavy defeat in midweek European action, Monaco host Metz looking to build on their strong start to the Ligue 1 season.
Match News and Current Form
Monaco have been scoring healthily from the outset this season and have had to do so to earn their early Ligue 1 success, with their defence one of six in the division not to return a clean sheet in the opening four rounds of fixtures. Their backline received extra attention on the back of a 4-1 thrashing at Club Brugge in their midweek UEFA Champions League encounter, conceding the first three of those goals in the space of ten minutes before half-time. Despite that setback, Adi Hütter’s men should still be confident of continuing their strong start to the league campaign, having won nine of their ten such games at home this calendar year (D1).
Metz find themselves rooted to the bottom of the standings ahead of this weekend despite coming agonisingly close to claiming their first win of the season. Manager Stéphane Le Mignan was understandably frustrated with what he saw as a wasted opportunity to beat Angers, with the team giving away a late penalty after Habib Diallo had missed a chance to make it 2-0 from the spot in the second half. That came a fortnight after they opened the scoring and equalised in a 3-2 loss at Paris FC, which again demonstrated their inability to close out matches.
Head-to-Head History
Monaco have won 14 of the last 15 Ligue 1 H2Hs (L1), while Metz are the opponent that they have hosted more times (12) than any other club in the competition this century without losing (W10, D2), which includes eight clean sheets from the last ten top-flight home H2Hs.
Hot Stats and Streaks
Monaco have scored 3+ goals in seven of their ten home league games in 2025.
Monaco have led 1-0 at half-time in five of their last six Ligue 1 wins.
Metz have conceded the final goal in every game during their ongoing eight-match top-flight winless streak (D1, L7).
Metz’s last nine regular-season away league games have each produced over 2.5 goals.
Key Players to Watch and Missing Players
Monaco’s Takumi Minamino is aiming to score in three consecutive Ligue 1 games for the first time. Habib Diallo could enjoy personal, but not team success on Sunday having netted in each of his last two appearances against Monaco, both of which were losses for Strasbourg in 2022/23 (4-3 and 2-1).
Mohammed Salisu and captain Denis Zakaria missed Monaco’s midweek outing through injury, while Metz defender Sadibou Sané will be serving the second game of his three-match suspension here.
For all the latest team news, please check the Flashscore match centre.
Betting Analysis
Based on the stats above, anything other than Monaco winning by 2+ goals would be greatly surprising.
Author: Aaron Murphy