Saint-Etienne and Monaco face off at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in a fixture with huge importance at both ends of the Ligue 1 table on Saturday night.
The hosts are staring down the barrel at relegation, while Adi Hutter‘s Monaco are in danger of throwing away their place in next season’s Champions League.
Match preview
This represents another devilishly difficult assignment for a Saint-Etienne side in serious trouble of making an instant unwanted return to Ligue 2 next season.
Eirik Horneland‘s men were helpless to stop the Strasbourg machine from rolling on last weekend, losing 3-1 in Alsace despite putting up a spirited effort on the road, where they have struggled greatly all season.
Poor away form is the reason why Les Verts find themselves 17th heading in gameweek 32, but the gap to Le Havre in the relegation playoff spot is just one point.
Even though the gap is a minor one, recent history is against Saint-Etienne, because over the last five seasons in Ligue 1, the team that has been second-to-last with three games remaining has been directly relegated on each occasion.
That means ASSE will need to pull something special out of the bag at home once more, where they beat Lyon in their last outing at the Guichard.
The hosts also drew 3-3 with Brest in the home game prior to that victory, meaning they have remained unbeaten in two successive matches at the Guichard on four separate occasions this season, but not once have they managed to make it three in a row.
On home form alone, Les Verts would be safely in mid-table, having taken 21 points from 15 games this season, and that strength in familiar surroundings could be what saves them late into this season.
Monaco are fearsome opponents though, because they have won four in a row in this fixture, and have scored four goals on both of their last two trips to the Guichard in Ligue 1.
However, the visitors are faltering at the worst possible time, winning just one of their last four league games, and falling from second to fourth in the space of two weeks.
Like their hosts, poor away form has been costly this season, because Monaco have won just one of their last 10 on the road, taking only 19 points from 15 games away from home.
That continued last weekend when another relegation-threatened outfit took points off them, as Monaco had to come from behind to salvage a point at Le Havre, drawing 1-1 at Stade Oceane.
Lille have now leapfrogged them into the final automatic Champions League qualifying spot, while Lyon, Nice and Strasbourg are all one point behind, and waiting to pounce.
Hutter will have to hope that his defence can bail them out once more, otherwise their recent results would have been even more concerning, because the visitors have let in just five goals in their last eight games.
Monaco have a tough ending to the season though, with Lyon to come in their only remaining home fixture, before finishing the campaign away to a tricky Lens side.
Team News
After losing his place in Saint-Etienne squad, defender Dylan Batubinsika is now missing with a calf injury, so Dinamo Zagreb loanee Maxime Bernauer will continue at the back.
Pierre Cornud and Augustine Boakye are also sidelined with injury at present, and Benjamin Bouchouari has joined them on the treatment table with a back injury over the past week or so.
Lucas Stassin failed to get on the scoresheet in their defeat at Strasbourg a week ago, but he will still be the man they look to for goals, as he has nine in his last 10 appearances.
Monaco will be without important midfielder Lamine Camara due to an accumulation of yellow cards, so after being left out of the squad entirely two weeks ago, Al Musrati could now be in line to start, despite the recent return of Soungoutou Magassa.
Aleksandr Golovin is set to be the only absentee for the visitors, with Kassoum Ouattara on the comeback trail, and for the fact Jordan Teze returned to first-team action after a three-month layoff last week.
Saint-Etienne possible starting lineup:
Larsonneur; Appiah, Bernauer, Nade, Petrot; Moueffek, Ekwah, Tardieu; Cardona, Stassin, Davitashvili
Monaco possible starting lineup:
Kohn; Vanderson, Singo, Kehrer, Caio Henrique; Zakaria, Al Musrati; Akliouche, Embolo, Ben Seghir; Biereth
We say: Saint-Etienne 1-1 Monaco
Saint-Etienne are much stronger at home while Monaco are weak on their travels, so despite the whopping gap between the two in the Ligue 1 standings, the hosts should not be discredited.
Monaco have proven tough to break down in recent weeks, but Les Verts will look to the performance of Le Havre last week for inspiration, and they could well take a valuable point.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
