Ligue 1 continues this weekend with a matchday fixture between Lorient and Monaco on Friday at the Stade Yves Allainmat-Le Moustoir with kickoff at 22:00.
Lorient kept their faith in their manager Pelissier who managed to save their season last campaign and his side sought to pick up where they left off after a miraculous turnaround saw them keep their Ligue 1 status for the 2021-22 season.
The Merlus opened their 2021-22 campaign with a 1-1 draw against St-Estienne at away, Vincent Le Goff opened the scoring for Lorient in the 52nd minute before Wahbi Khazzri equalized for Estienne from the penalty spot following a VAR review.
The draw saw Lorient stretch their unbeaten run to eight matches across all competitions dating back to May. Merlus had a good run in the pre-season kicking of their new campaign with an unbeaten run in the preparation friendlies with three wins and two draws. Pelissier will now be expecting his side to carry their pre-season momentum to the Friday’s clash as they aim at salvaging points from Monaco.
Meanwhile Monaco had a good run last season finishing third, behind Lille and PSG, with 78 points and will be aiming to sustain a tittle challenge this season having come so close last season.
Les Monegasques opened their 2021-22 campaign with a somewhat disappointing 1-1 draw against Nantes despite having huffed and puffed for a winner throughout the match. However, they head into the Friday’s clash on the back of a 3-1 midweek second leg win over Sparta Prague which saw them advance 5-1 on aggregate and booking a meeting against Shartar Donetsk in the next round.
Kovac’s side will fancy their chances of emerging victorious on Friday having won nine of their last 11 Ligue 1 games with five consecutive clean sheets at away. Also, they are in a good form having only lost one of their last seven matches across all competitions.
Lorient vs Monaco head to head
Both sides have met 26 times since 1998 with Monaco being the better team with 15 victories while Lorient have only five victories and six matches ended in a draw.
- Monaco 2-2 Lorient 14/02/21
- Lorient 2-5 Monaco 06/01/21
- Monaco 1-0 Lorient 19/12/18
- Monaco 4-0 Lorient 22/01/17
- Lorient 0-3 Monaco 18/11/16
Home
- St-Estienne 1-1 Lorient
- Lorient 1-0 Angers
- Nantes 0-1 Lorient
- Lorient 1-1 Bordeaux
- Stade Brest 2-3 Lorient
away
- Monaco 3-1 Sparta Prague
- Monaco 1-1 Nantes
- Sparta Prague 0-2 Monaco
- Real Sociedad 2-1 Monaco
- Wolfsburg 1-2 Monaco
Lorient team news
Lorient will be without Quentin Boisgard who remains out after testing positive for Covid-19, Stephane Diarra with a hamstring problem and Loris Muoyokolo with an ankle injury.
Monaco team news
Monaco have no reports of any missing players ahead of the match.
Prediction and odds
- Monaco win
- Goals over 2.5
- Both sides to score
