PSG sealed the league title last week after drawing 1-1 with Lens. The race for the top spot looked over before it began but that doesn’t speak for the rest of the division. Marseille have a grip on the second spot whilst there are three sides realistically fighting for the Champions League qualifying spot. Monaco will travel on May 6 to play last year’s Ligue 1 victors Lille wanting to keep up the pressure.
Lille Welcome Champions League Chasing Monaco to Town
Where It Has Gone Wrong for Lille
After shocking the world and overcoming PSG last year, Lille have come crashing back down to earth. Nobody could truly expect them to challenge for the title once more having had so many key figures poached, from manager Christophe Galtier to goalkeeper Mike Maignan. They currently sit tenth and have nothing to play for at this stage in the season. Lille are still able to impact the final order at the top of the tree though.
Remarkably, Lille’s last three games will see them face third, fourth and fifth. First up is Monaco before they meet Nice and finally Rennes. These big fixtures could be pivotal for the future of Jonathan David when it comes to the upcoming summer window.
The Canadian forward has attracted the interest of some of Europe’s elite clubs with Bayern and Barcelona said to be amongst those interested. He was at one stage, the top scorer in French football. Having scored just once since the turn of the year though, the question marks are growing.
Lille are already prepared to sell some players this summer. Jonathan David’s rise from Jan 2018 has been excellent and top clubs have his name in the list. 🔴⭐️ #Lille
David’s now Lille top scorer with 17 goals this season, 3 in UCL – and he’s just 22.
Price tag around €50m. pic.twitter.com/oJOleFXiRd
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) April 27, 2022
Lille still have a number of stars amongst their ranks whether it be David or Renato Sanchez or Benjamin Andre, the list goes on. They are a club with a lot of transfer revenue from recent seasons. Victor Osimhen and Nicolas Pepe both went for mouth-watering fees prior to their title win.
Champions League Chasing Monaco Fought Back to Draw in the Reverse Fixture
Enough about Lille though as it this Champions League chasing Monaco side who have the jeopardy on this Friday night fixture. The pair met in the reverse fixture back of November of last year and it was a tale of two halves. The aforementioned David had a brace to his name with less than ten minutes on the clock. David beat Alex Nubel from the penalty spot and then shortly after, rolled home a second goal with his weaker left foot.
David came close to completing his hat-trick but Nubel denied him this time. Senegalese winger Krepin Diatta thundered Monaco back into the game just before half-time. The home side were pushing for an equalizer for most of the second 45 when their task got all the more difficult.
Strahinja Pavlovic went in hard on Jonathan Ikone and as a result, saw a second yellow of the game. An evergreen Wissam Ben Yedder came off the bench and converted Monaco’s second from an acute angle though, rescuing a point for the now-departed Niko Kovac.
In the 47 meetings between mid-table Lille and Champions League-chasing Monaco, the latter has prevailed more often. 19 times the tie has gone the way of Monaco whilst 15 were draws and 13 saw Lille collate three points. A sizeable win is a dream from Monaco and you only have to go back to 2019 to find their biggest ever in this fixture. Who was on target twice in that one? Ben Yedder.
Star Players
Ben Yedder and David are two strikers that cause a whole lot of headaches on their day. That being said, there are other players all over the pitch that could well have their say. Two of which on the Lille side are Sanches and Burak Yilmaz but they both saw red in their last outing. Lille were embarrassed 3-0 away at Troyes and clearly lost their heads.
Jocelyn Gourvennec’s side have won just one of their last six in fact, drawing two and losing the other three. Like David, centre-half Sven Botman could do himself some big favours when it comes to earning a move away from the club with some dominant displays in the weeks to come.
https://twitter.com/Nightmonkey828/status/1521469335759327232
Monaco on the other hand are on a tear. Their last defeat in Ligue 1 came at the hands of Strasbourg in mid-March. They have won seven on the bounce since then, including notable victories over Nice, Rennes and PSG. Form favours Monaco and anything over than a win for the visitors would be a shock. Despite the side thriving, Myron Boadu has struggled to hit the ground running since moving from the Eredivisie so he’ll be hoping to make an impact off of the bench at the Stade Pierre Mauroy.
Lille have had a turgid year and will be glad to see the back of it. Meanwhile, Champions League-chasing Monaco still have it all to play for and will be keen to further the anguish of last year’s champions.
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