Folarin Balogun re-found his scoring boots as Stade de Reims beat AS Monaco 1-0 at the Stade Louis II on Sunday evening.
THE MATCH
Dion Lopy put an early tester in on Alexander Nubel, but Monaco's Bayern Munich-owned 'keeper collected comfortably (4') and much of the first-half traffic flowed in the opposite direction from there. Wissam Ben Yedder - scorer of a brace in last Sunday's 2-2 draw at ESTAC Troyes - thought he had his third goal in two games after being slipped through by Aleksandr Golovin, but his effort was ruled out for offside (8'). The Monaco captain was then the width of the post away from making it 1-0 on the half-hour, lobbing it beyond Yehvann Diouf when on-on-one before being denied by the woodwork (30'). Reims had a chance of their own towards the end of the half, but Balogun didn't get enough lift on his attempted chip over Nubel (40') and it was goalless at the break.
Balogun breaks duck
Vanderson had a pair of good chances to give Monaco the lead early in the second half, both teed up by Youssouf Fofana, but his first effort was volleyed high and wide (49') while his second, a low drilled shot, came back off the far post (50'). It was against the run play, then, when Reims took the lead. Alexis Flips played Folarin Balogun through and the Arsenal loanee scored his 16th of the season with a shot which went in via Nubel's right hand and the near post (51'). Golovin had a chance to draw Monaco level after a Reims defensive error, but his curling effort didn't have power on it to test Diouf (66'). Vanderson had another chance late on but he blasted it straight at Diouf (84') and it ended 1-0.
THE PLAYER: Folarin Balogun
Balogun's loan to Reims from Premier League leaders Arsenal has been an unmitigated success story so far, but after six games without a return he was in need of a goal, and he found it here with his combination of persistence and clever runs. The England under-21 international is now up to 16 for the campaign.
THE STAT: 19
Reims are now undefeated in 19 Ligue 1 Uber Eats games, a run stretching back to September's reverse fixture against Monaco, when they lost 3-0 with Oscar Garcia still at the helm. But for a loss to Toulouse FC in the Coupe de France, Will Still is yet to taste defeat since succeeding the Spaniard as the Champagne club's manager.
FC Nantes 2-2 OGC Nice
Elsewhere, FC Nantes twice came from behind to rescue a 2-2 draw at home to European aspirants OGC Nice.
Terem Moffi opened the scoring for the visitors early on with his third goal since his January arrival from FC Lorient but his strike was cancelled out by Moussa Sissoko.
Youssouf Ndayishimiye looked to have given les Aiglons all three points late on but Mostafa Mohamed had the final say two minutes from time.
FC Lorient 2-0 ESTAC Troyes
Lorient replaced Moffi with Olympique de Marseille youngster Bamba Dieng, and he got les Merlus going with an eighth-minute opener at home to ESTAC Troyes. Stéphane Diarra then sealed a 2-0 win in injury-time to leave Troyes mired in relegation trouble.
Angers SCO 0-2 Toulouse FC
Angers SCO remain rock-bottom of the table, though, without a win since September, after going down 2-0 to Toulouse FC. Mikkel Desler and Thijs Dallinga got le Téfécé's goals at the Stade Raymond Kopa.
AC Ajaccio 0-1 Montpellier Hérault SC
Montpellier Hérault SC were 1-0 winners against AC Ajaccio in Corsica, meanwhile. Elye Wahi got the only goal of the game at the Stade François Coty. Mid-table Montpellier are now unbeaten in five.
