Fresh from a dominant showing against Sparta Prague in the Champions League, Monaco seek their first win of the Ligue 1 season at the second attempt against Lorient on Friday night.
Christophe Pelissier's men played out a 1-1 draw with Saint-Etienne on the opening weekend, while Monaco were held to a stalemate of the same scoreline by Nantes.
Match preview
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Unsurprisingly keeping faith with the man who managed to save their bacon in the 2020-21 season, Lorient sought to pick up where they left off after a miraculous turnaround saw them preserve their Ligue 1 status for the 2021-22 season.
Pelissier's side took 52 minutes to open their account for the season at Saint-Etienne - with Vincent Le Goff's half volley off the woodwork crossing the line by the narrowest of margins - but Les Verts talisman Wahbi Khazri won and converted a penalty following a VAR review to ensure a share of the spoils.
Claiming a point against Saint-Etienne - playing in front of their impassioned fanbase once more - is certainly not the worst way to kick off proceedings in the top flight, as Lorient's unbeaten run in competitive and non-competitive fixtures stretched to eight matches last weekend.
Merlus boss Pelissier paid tribute to the atmosphere following the draw and was understandably content with taking a point on the opening weekend, and ahead of their first home fixture of the season, Lorient boast quite the run of domestic form on familiar territory.
Indeed, Pelissier's side won five and drew one of their final six home fixtures last term - winning each of their last four - while they have not failed to score on home soil since a 3-0 defeat to Rennes back in December 2020.
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Seeking to sustain a title challenge having come so close yet so far last season, Monaco did not kick off the 2021-22 season in ideal fashion, playing out a 1-1 draw with Nantes despite huffing and puffing for the winner throughout the 90 minutes.
Niko Kovac's side went ahead after Caio Henrique's pinpoint delivery found the boot of Gelson Martins for the Portuguese attacker to slot home, but on the stroke of half time, Jean-Charles Castelletto rose highest to head home from a corner and force Les Monegasques to settle for a point.
However, Monaco have enjoyed better fortunes during their early Champions League battles, as a 3-1 midweek second-leg win over Sparta Prague saw them advance 5-1 on aggregate and set up a playoff round tie with Ukrainian powerhouses Shakhtar Donetsk.
With the two legs of that continental tie set to take place on August 17 and 24, Kovac will factor that in with regards to team selection for their Ligue 1 encounters, but the Monaco boss will not need reminding that early-season slip-ups proved fatal in their title bid last term.
Les Monegasques have won nine of their last 11 Ligue 1 games and boast five consecutive clean sheets on the road, though, while Lorient have suffered four defeats in a row to Monaco at the Stade de Moustoir.
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Team News
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Lorient have waved goodbye to Yoane Wissa following his move to Brentford, but he was not involved against Saint-Etienne either way as Terem Moffi and Armand Lauriente led the line.
Playmaker Quentin Boisgard remains out after contracting coronavirus, while Stephane Diarra (hamstring) and Loris Mouyokolo (ankle) occupy spots in the hosts' treatment room.
New arrival Igor Silva prepares for another outing at right-back after playing a key role in Le Goff's opener at Saint-Etienne, while Thomas Monconduit is the only realistic name that Pelissier could opt to introduce for gameweek two.
Monaco boss Kovac is likely to make a number of alterations once more ahead of their Champions League meeting with Shakhtar, with Gelson Martins potentially due a rest as Aleksandr Golovin and Sofiane Diop feature out wide.
Goalscoring centre-back Guillermo Maripan and attacker Krepin Diatta are also back in the fold and could push for starting berths - with the former set to replace the injured Benoit Badiashile - while Alexander Nubel will continue as the last line of defence in Benjamin Lecomte's absence.
Ruben Aguilar and new arrival Ismail Jakobs are possible alterations in the full-back areas, while new arrival Myron Boadu could be drafted into the attack in place of Wissam Ben Yedder.
Lorient possible starting lineup:
Nardi; Silva, Laporte, Mendes, Morel, Le Goff; Abergel, Lemoine; Le Fee; Lauriente, Moffi
Monaco possible starting lineup:
Nubel; Aguilar, Disasi, Maripan, Henrique; Golovin, Fofana, Tchouameni, Diop; Boadu, Volland
We say: Lorient 0-2 Monaco
A potential raft of changes from Monaco could have Lorient licking their lips at the prospect of an upset, but Kovac will still want his side to claim their first league win of the season as a matter of urgency.
Should star striker Moffi soon find his shooting boots, Les Merlus ought to have no problems on the attacking front, but we are still backing Monaco to get the job done here.
Top tip
Ben Knapton
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 54.88%. A draw had a probability of 24.5% and a win for Lorient had a probability of 20.62%.
The most likely scoreline for a Monaco win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.79%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (10.55%) and 1-2 (9.57%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.6%), while for a Lorient win it was 1-0 (7.03%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 7% likelihood.
