THE MATCH

Monaco had seen Côte d'Azur neighbours Nice win 1-0 at Metz earlier in the day to claim top spot for themselves, but Adi Hütter's side knew a fifth victory of the new season in their eighth outing of the Ligue 1 Uber Eats campaign would see them retake the lead position in the table.

Reims had those ambitions too as they came into the game in fourth, a point behind their opponents, and with Monaco sporting warm-up T-shirts wishing their injured talismanic left-back Caio Henrique well, Will Still's side surely sensed momentum was on their side before kick-off.

They would have had still more had Keito Nakamura been able to beat Philipp Köhn after being teed up by Teddy Teuma (11'), but Monaco held firm until - just three minutes before the break - they opened the scoring. 

Ismail Jakobs will be important for Monaco with Caio Henrique sidelined, and the Senegal international left wing-back showed he can potentially match the Brazilian's contribution in the final third as he fired home after Krepin Diatta had picked him out with a cross (42').

The former Cologne man's first Ligue 1 Uber Eats goal - on his 66th appearance - was soon followed by Balogun's second of the league campaign for his new club. Warmly welcomed back to the Stade Auguste Delaune after scoring 21 times in the league for Reims while on loan from Arsenal last season, the USA international struck within a minute of the restart to turn some of his former admirers against him.

Youssouf Fofana was the provider, finding Balogun inside the box, and the USA striker's shot took a touch off Yunes Abdelhamid on its way past Yehvann Diouf to double Monaco's lead (46').

Three minutes later, the contest was over. Jakobs burst down the left and provided the ideal cross for Wissam ben Yedder to head home his 150th Ligue 1 goal - 87 of which have come for Monaco -  and become only the second player this century after Kylian Mbappé to reach that milestone (49').

Chrislain Matsima gifted Reims a foothold in the game shortly afterwards though. A half-time substitute, he brought down Marshall Munetsi inside the penalty area, and Teuma sent Köhn the wrong way to score his fourth goal of the season and give the hosts some hope.

They could not build on that, however, and though Mamadou Diakhon brought a full-length save from Köhn late on, Still's men were not able to find a way through again as Monaco moved a point clear of Nice and three ahead of third-placed Brest, who host Toulouse on Sunday.

THE PLAYER: Folarin Balogun

The American was under pressure following his goalscoring exploits at Reims last season, but he is starting to show it was no fluke, and against the side where he made his reputation to boot.

THE STAT: 6

Monaco have scored three times in six different league games this season, no team across Europe's five major championships has done better.

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