Metz travel to take on league leaders Monaco on Saturday night – a task that is currently a very daunting one for almost anyone in this division, let alone one of Ligue 1’s lesser teams.
Much has been made of Monaco’s scoring exploits this season and for good reason. 70 league goals in 24 matches is incredible and, especially at home, the principality team really are a force to be reckoned with.
In the betting, it is impossible to go against the hosts and they’re fancied to continue their impressive run by racking up another big win. At odds of 12/5 ‘Monaco to Score Over 3.5 Goals’ is the bet to go for. Leonardo Jardim’s team put seven past Metz when the two teams faced each other earlier in the campaign and another drubbing could be on the cards here.
With the likes of Radamel Falcao, Valère Germain and exciting young talent Kylian Mbappé, it’s certainly not hard to see why Monaco are doing so well in front of goal. Additionally, such a potent forward-line is benefiting massively from the variety of creative sources at Jardim’s disposal. Bernardo Silva, Fabinho and Thomas Lemar are just three of the midfield players who’re helping to lay on a plethora of chances for the aforementioned strikers week in, week out.
Against a Metz team who’ve really struggled on the road of late, Monaco, who’ve scored 41 goals on their own patch so far this season, could do some serious damage once again. Les Monégasques have scored at least four goals on six occasions at home this season, and there’s every chance this stat will become seven on Saturday.
In fairness, the form of the visitors has improved slightly of late, but narrow victories against Dijon and Marseille probably won’t cut much ice here. Despite these recent wins, it’s hard to hold out much hope when their hosts have been playing almost off the park at Stade Louis II this season.
On the road, Philippe Hinschberger’s Metz have now gone six league matches without a win and have scored just one goal during that time. At the other end, they’ve shipped a total of 15 during these six defeats. Struggling defensively against even some of the division’s weaker teams really doesn’t bode well ahead of facing a rampant Monaco.
As well as backing the hosts to run riot in front of goal, backing a red card to be shown during the match is a very appealing side bet at 5/1. Metz are likely to be on the back foot from the off and it’s definitely reasonable to assume that plenty of fouls will be conceded in order to gain respite from the barrage of Monaco attacks. With this in mind, it really could be a case of cards galore for the visitors. After all, having a player sent off is certainly nothing new for Metz. Philippe Hinschberger has already witnessed his team receive no less than six red cards this season, including one in the reverse of this fixture.
All in all, Monaco are fancied to flex their muscles when showcasing their superiority and are well worth backing to bag another glut of goals.
Read more tips here.