Monaco's Derby Reckoning
A seventh-placed Monaco, winless in five, must face a Nice side that has beaten them three times running — and do it without the midfield that made their autumn.
Nice arrive in the principality as the favourites, and the recent history says so bluntly: three meetings, three victories for the visitors, the last of them a 0-1 at Monaco in March and a 4-1 on the Côte d'Azur before that. Fourth with 24 points against Monaco's 19, Nice have the calmer season. Monaco's form reads LDLLL, and the derby offers no soft landing.
The injury list does the damage. Merouane Mokrani is named in the expected eleven but short of condition, and Igwe, Zoilo and Stuer all carry tired legs. Josh Manning against Barış Kartal and Jorge Salazar against Peter George are the flanks where this will be decided; Salazar's dribbling against George's tackling looks the more dangerous edge. Fritsch will find Avrămescu a stubborn proposition in the air. Monaco need the old midfield partnership to hold; Nice need only what they have been doing.