Monaco are bidding to break into the top five by the end of the season, currently sitting sixth and four points behind a Europa Conference League place in Ligue 1.
Troyes are the visitors to the Stade Louis II on Sunday, and they sit in 15th spot and need to secure a few more points to ensure that they are safe from relegation, currently just five points ahead of 18th.
Match preview
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After a disappointing exit from the Europa League last month, Monaco have bounced back in style with back-to-back wins against Paris Saint-Germain and last time out against Metz.
Last Sunday, goals from Wissam Ben Yedder and Myron Boadu secured a 2-1 win in Longeville-les-Metz, and the visitors would have been pleased with their overall performance having dominated possession of the ball.
Philippe Clement's side have been in particularly good goalscoring form on their own patch this season, having netted 29 times in 15 matches, suggesting that they will entertain their home crowd this weekend also.
Monaco's two fixtures after this match come against third-placed Rennes and fifth-placed Nice, so three points this weekend will mean that they can put themselves into a position to leapfrog their opponents in the coming weeks.
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Troyes enter this game on a good run of form, having put together a five-game unbeaten run, during which time they have kept three clean sheets in their three victories.
One of these triumphs came last time out in a 1-0 win over Reims, courtesy of a 93rd-minute strike from Renaud Ripart, and that was an important three points for Troyes as Reims are above them in the table.
Bruno Irles's side have not scored as many goals as the teams higher up the league, and that is perhaps what has halted their progress this season, but after securing promotion to the top flight last year, Troyes will be happy to just retain their Ligue 1 status.
The visitors are expected to give up possession to Monaco on Sunday, meaning that Irles's team will have to be effective on the counter-attack to take some points back home with them.
Monaco defeated Troyes by a scoreline of 2-1 in the reverse fixture in August, when the two teams were quite evenly matched on the day and created a similar amount of chances.
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Team News
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Cesc Fabregas only managed two Ligue 1 appearances at the start of this season before being ruled out through injury, and while he could make his return this month, Sunday is certain to have come too soon for the Spaniard to feature.
Attacking threat Kevin Volland is also expected to miss out through illness, and he will be missed as he has scored six goals and provided five assists in 26 Ligue 1 matches for Monaco this term.
While right-winger Krepin Diatta faces more time on the sidelines due to a cruciate ligament injury, Clement could name the same starting 11 as last weekend, with captain Ben Yedder continuing to lead the line.
Troyes will be without Suk Hyun-Jun and Karim Azamoum due to injury, while centre-back Adil Rami was forced off after just 29 minutes last weekend and is unlikely to be fit enough to feature on Sunday.
Erik Palmer-Brown is expected to come into the the back three, and play alongside Yoann Salmier and Giulian Biancone, with Abdu and Issa Kabore providing the width from their wing-back roles.
Monaco possible starting lineup:
Nubel; Henrique, Badiashile, Disasi, Aguilar; Tchouameni, Fofana; Martins, Golovin, Vanderson; Ben Yedder
Troyes possible starting lineup:
Gallon; Salmier, Palmer-Brown, Biancone; Abdu, Tardieu, Kouame, Kabore; Chavalerin, Dingome; Mothiba
We say: Monaco 2-0 Troyes
After two positive results and being back on home soil, Monaco are strong favourites for this encounter and they should find no problems in getting past Troyes.
The visitors have been on a good run of form, but many of those games came against teams around them in the table, so coming up against a side fighting for a European spot will be a more difficult test.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Monaco win with a probability of 69.75%. A draw had a probability of 18.9% and a win for Troyes had a probability of 11.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Monaco win was 2-0 with a probability of 13.19%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (12.49%) and 2-1 (9.44%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.94%), while for a Troyes win it was 0-1 (4.23%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.4% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Monaco would win this match.
