Throughout the first half of the season, the battle between OGC Nice and Paris Saint-Germain has dominated the headlines in Ligue 1 - will Nice keep up their incredible form and steal the title against all odds, or will PSG overcome their slump and secure their fifth consecutive French title?
However, while all eyes have been on their title rivals, Monaco snuck into second place just before the league split up for the winter break. Sitting three points ahead of third placed PSG and just two points behind leaders Nice, Monaco have put themselves in a promising position going into the second leg of the season.
A few good performances could see them overtake Nice following the break, which shouldn’t be too difficult for Monaco, given their recent good form. They suffered a disappointing 3-1 home defeat to Olympique Lyon due to goals from a spectacular front three of Rachid Ghezzal, Mathieu Valbuena and Alexandre Lacazette, but they bounced back with a convincing 2-1 defeat against strugglers SM Caen three days later.
Prior to the Lyon defeat, Leonardo Jardim’s side had previously gone eight games without suffering defeat, picking up all three points in six of those games, which saw the club maintain their place in the top three. In that same run of nine games, PSG have lost two and drawn two, while Nice have lost one and drawn three.
Likewise, while they have picked up more points than their title rivals in recent months, they have also produced far superior results. Since the 3-1 defeat to Toulouse back in October, they have scored three or more goals in six of their last nine matches, including six goals wins against Montpellier and AS Nancy. Those brilliant results have taken Monaco’s goals scored tally to 56 goals in 19 appearances - a rate of approximately 3 goals per game. Their closest challengers, PSG, sit some way off with 38 goals from 19 games.
With the likes of Radamel Falcao, Guido Carrillo and Thomas Lemar having displayed their goalscoring prowess in recent months, Jardim will be confident that his side can push on in January and maintain their place near the top of the table.
They face two of their toughest fixtures of the season on January 28th and February 4th, when they face PSG away and Nice at home in successive weeks, and those two games could determine where Monaco are placed when the season comes to an end in May.
PSG remain unbeaten at home this season, which makes them favourites to get a result, but Monaco will be keen to get revenge over Nice following the 4-0 mauling that they were subjected to by the leaders back in September. Monaco have yet to go more than one game without producing a win in Ligue 1 this season, which suggests that they will take something from one of the two games.
Momentum is everything in football, and if they can knock their two closest rivals off of their pedestals in those two vital games, Monaco would emerge from January as favourites to lift the Ligue 1 title.