Preview: Monaco vs Metz - prediction, team news, lineups

Fresh off a difficult opening to their Champions League campaign, Monaco return to Ligue 1 action on Sunday, welcoming Metz to Stade Louis II.

Les Monegasques are third in the table, narrowly defeating Auxerre 2-1 last weekend, while Metz remain dead-last despite drawing with Angers 1-1.

Match preview

After a disastrous start to their Champions League season, losing 4-1 to Club Brugge on Thursday, being back in the Principality may be exactly what Monaco need.

Belgium has not been kind to Les Monegasques in Europe, but Stade Louis II has, especially in Ligue 1 where they have won nine of their last 10 matches played in this competition.

Adi Hutter’s men have not lost a league fixture in the Principality since a 4-2 defeat versus Paris Saint-Germain in December 2024, and on Sunday could win their first three home games of a top-flight season for the first time since 2017-18.

Few French teams have been able to slow down the Monaco attack at Stade Louis II in 2025, with the home side netting three or more goals seven times in the top-flight this year, the second-highest total behind Marseille (nine).

Monaco won five of their six meetings against newly promoted clubs last season, with their only defeat coming at home to Angers in November (1-0).

Not once in the 21st century have Les Monegasques wound up on the losing end of a top-flight home contest against Metz, winning those last eight meetings in this competition at Stade Louis II.

It is their fourth season back in Ligue 1 since 2019-20, but it does not appear as though much has changed for Metz over that span.

In those four prior return campaigns counting this one, this team have not won more than one of their opening four top-flight affairs, and those early losses have often proved costly.

Right now, Metz have just one point after four matchdays, the fewest for them at this stage of a Ligue 1 or 2 campaign since going pointless in their first four games of the 2017-18 top-flight season.

Making the jump from Ligue 2 to this level has often felt like a step too big for them, with Metz winning just 21% of their Ligue 1 affairs since the 2022-23 season, while that number is up to 53% in the second tier during the same time.

Stephane Le Mignan has never won a match as a manager in this competition, already suffering more defeats in Ligue 1 this season (three) than he had this year in the second tier (two).

Les Grenats have not won a top-flight match in the Principality since 1997, defeating Monaco 2-1 on that occasion, losing the Ligue 1 title that season on goal difference to Lens.

Monaco Ligue 1 form:

Monaco form (all competitions):

Metz Ligue 1 form:

Team News

Hutter will be without several Monaco players for this encounter, including Lukas Hradecky, who has a knee issue, Aleksandr Golovin is dealing with some muscle problems and Denis Zakaria has a knock.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Salisu’s status is unclear, after missing their Champions League fixture with a minor injury and Paul Pogba likely won’t be available until next month.

Goals from Takumi Minamino and George Ilenikhena enabled them to cancel out Salisu’s own-goal on matchday four, while Ansu Fati made his Monaco debut on Thursday, scoring the only goal in their defeat to Club Brugge.

A sore foot kept Malick Mbaye out of the Metz fold versus Angers, while Sadibou Sane will serve match two of his three-game red card suspension on Sunday.

Last weekend, Le Mignan made three changes from the squad that began their match versus Paris FC, as Alpha Toure, Ibou Sane and Habib Diallo replaced Sadibou Sane, Giorgi Abuashvili and Idrissa Gueye, with the latter loaned to Udinese earlier this month.

Jean-Philippe Gbamin notched his first goal for Les Grenats the last time out, having come over to the Lorraine club in July from Zurich in the Swiss Super League.

Monaco possible starting lineup:

Kohn; Teze, Kehrer, Mawissa, Ouattara; Camara, Bamba, Akliouche; Minamino; Biereth, Balogun

Metz possible starting lineup:

Fischer; Kouao, Gbamin, Yegba, A. Toure; Deminguet, Traore; Tsitaishvili, Hein, I. Sane; Diallo

We say: Monaco 3-0 Metz

Monaco’s pride took a hit on Thursday, and we expect to see a side that, although depleted with injuries, will be keen to inflict damage on Metz, who do not appear to be strong enough to compete consistently at this level.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.