It’s the clash of the 2 French heavyweights in match week 22 of the 2016/17 Ligue 1 season. Monaco will make the trip to the French capital hoping to extend their lead at the top of the table. But PSG are a tough team to beat at the Parc des Princes and Monaco must be on their game to beat the French champions. Monaco are current league leaders in Ligue 1 while PSG sit 3rd, 3 points off Monaco with OCG Nice in second, one point ahead of PSG.

STATS

• PSG are way off where they should be at this stage of the season and some of their results in the league this season are less than impressive. With 2 losses in their last 6 Ligue 1 games, PSG aren’t showing the form and quality of a team who have spent hundreds of millions of euros in the rebranding and rebuilding of the club. They’ve looked very unspectacular in their 2 matches since the winter break even though they have picked up 2 wins with 2 clean sheets.
• Monaco are showing that they are the team who are favourites for the title, who have also spent millions on improving their squad. In their 21 games so far this season, they’ve scored 64 goals, a record of over 3 goals per game on average. They’ve only lost one game in their last 12 in the league which came at the hands of Lyon. Their fine goal scoring form has gone hand-in-hand with a decent defensive record, averaging a goal conceded every game.
• Edinson Cavani has been one shining light for PSG so far this season and his source of goals has been vital after Zlatan Ibrahimović’s departure to Manchester United in the summer. He’s chipped in with 20 goals in the league, a total that isn’t matched by any player in Europe’s top 5 leagues.
• Radamel Falcao has provided the most goals for Monaco this season with 12 goals. Only two players have registered more goals in Ligue 1, Edinson Cavani and Alexandre Lacazette. The PSG defence will need to be careful of his movement in and around the box.

HEAD TO HEAD

Monaco have come out on top in the last two meetings between the sides and won 3-1 in the match against PSG earlier in the season. In the last 14 matches across all competitions there has been 8 draws, with Monaco winning 4, including the last two and PSG picking up only 2 wins.

Head to head matches: Paris St Germain - AS Monaco

28.08.2016	Ligu	AS Monaco	Paris St Germain	3:1
20.03.2016	Ligu	Paris St Germain	AS Monaco	0:2

MONACO NEWS

With 2 wins and 8 goals in their two Ligue 1 games since the winter break, Monaco won’t be looking to change anything in their side. It’s actually the opposite, if they want to beat PSG then they’ll have to be playing how they have been in recent weeks. There’s only 3 unavailable players for Monaco, Kamil Glik is out with a muscle strain and Nabil Dirar and Adama Traore are both with their national sides at the African Cup of Nations, with Morocco and Mali respectively.

Latest matches in Ligue 1: AS Monaco

22.01.2017	Ligu	AS Monaco	FC Lorient	4:0	W
15.01.2017	Ligu	Olympique Marseille	AS Monaco	1:4	W

PSG NEWS

After a few very unconvincing performances recently for PSG, it wouldn’t be a massive surprise if Unai Emery was to change his set-up in order to try to outfox their league rivals. PSG are without 3 midfielders for this one, Julian Draxler, Javier Pastore and Grzegorz Krychowiak all miss out through injury.

Latest matches in Ligue 1: Paris St Germain

21.01.2017	Ligu	FC Nantes	Paris St Germain	0:2	W
14.01.2017	Ligu	Stade Rennes	Paris St Germain	0:1	W
21.12.2016	Ligu	Paris St Germain	FC Lorient	5:0	W
17.12.2016	Ligu	EA Guingamp	Paris St Germain	2:1	L
11.12.2016	Ligu	Paris St Germain	OGC Nice	2:2	D

SUMMARY

It’s a really tough one to call between two really good French sides. Based on home advantage and the sheer amount of world-class players in PSG’s ranks, they’d have to be considered as favourites but as Monaco are top of the table and are scoring at will, they will see themselves as favourites. If one thing is for sure, there will be goals!