Monaco – Lens

AS Monaco hosts RC Lens in the sixteenth round of the French Ligue 1. Lens is in a state of uncertainty because they might lose their biggest sponsorship and that would be a disaster, but are focused on the job at hand … to get point or points today.

Monaco is 10th in the standings and did not win in the last 4 matches: 3 draws, 1 loss .. last time 0-2 vs Rennes at Saturday. But this season the priority for Monaco is Champions League football and surprisingly they are doing very well there, being very close to qualify and beating Leverkusen in Germany last week 1-0. For today Monaco has three players unavailable: Kondogbia, Kurzawa and Borja Lopez. Hosts will try to improve the home performances because they won only 2 out of 7 at home in the French Ligue 1.

Bet on AS Monaco vs. RC Lens with the best handicap odds at Pinnacle Sports.

Lens finally left the last place in the standings in the weekend after winning 2-0 vs. Metz in a very good performance to answer people who thought they will go downhill because of the financial uncertainty … proving there is no correlation between that and their game on the pitch. It was the first win for Lens after 4 consecutive losses in all competition. Now on the 18th place, visitors will get out of the relegation zone for the first time this year if they manage to play for at least 1 point in Monaco. Team news for Lens say that N’Diaye and Chavarria are injured, Landre is suspended.

Lens is not as bad as the standings suggests, they lost only 2 times this season with more than 1 goal … one time against PSG and they were unlucky. They beat Toulouse and Lyon on the road and covered the 1 goal handicap vs. teams like St Etienne or Marseille (at Velodrome). Always played well vs. the good teams in France. Monaco is not the same team as last year … they played good in the Champions League but that is because they defend in numbers. In France they usually have to take initiative and they are not good at that, they struggle a lot to score goals and to break down opponents. This is also why they have such a poor home record. It will be a hard game for Monaco and if they win it will be hard fought, but I think Lens snatches a point … my tip will be Lens +1,5 handicap. Correct score prediction: Monaco – Lens 1-1.

Pick: Lens +1,5 handicap
Odds: 1.69 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 5.52
Event date: 2 December