AS Monaco - AS Saint-Etienne Wednesday at 21:00 CET (2000 GMT)

Puel enjoyed great success on the Côte d’Azur, both as a player and later as a coach. A one-club man as a player, he turned out almost 500 times for Monaco between 1979 and 1996, winning two league titles and three French Cups. As a coach he led the principality side to the title in 2000 and he later enjoyed four fruitful years in charge of OGC Nice between 2012 and 2016, twice leading them to fourth place in the Ligue 1 table.

Those successes will surely come to mind for Puel as he heads to the Stade Louis II on Wednesday while his current club - with their record 10 league titles - are battling to pull themselves clear of the relegation zone.

Since starting the season with three straight victories, Saint-Etienne have managed a single victory in 13 games. However, there is renewed hope for Les Verts, who are unbeaten in their last five outings and have moved five points clear of the bottom three in the process.

Highlights: Nordin salvages draw for Sainté

Sainté looked a different team to the one that had so recently gone on a woeful run of seven straight defeats as they won 2-1 away to Girondins de Bordeaux last midweek. However on Sunday they had to settle for a 2-2 draw at home to Nîmes Olympique, needing a second-half equaliser from Arnaud Nordin to secure a share of the points.

“We are really disappointed. There were good things, situations and chances which should have ended better for us, but we don’t have the time to dwell on this draw because we play again in three days in Monaco. We are not on holiday,” Puel said after Sunday’s game.

Ben Yedder and Volland, Monaco's hot strike pairing

Saint-Etienne are now set to be without Wahbi Khazri due to injury as well as suspended defender Harold Moukoudi - who scored his side’s opener against Nîmes - against Monaco, in a fixture that never happened last season because of the coronavirus pandemic.

At the start of December Monaco looked like they could get themselves into the title race, but a run of three straight defeats - away to LOSC and Olympique de Marseille, and at home to RC Lens - appeared to put paid to that. However, they got back on track at the weekend as a solitary Kevin Volland goal gave the principality side a 1-0 win at struggling Dijon FCO.

That result left Niko Kovac’s side seventh, but just two points behind Marseille in fourth place in the table.

Highlights: Volland goal gives Monaco victory at Dijon

“It may not have been our best game of the season, but we went out there and got a positive result. We showed character and congratulations to the players for the spirit they displayed,” said Kovac.

Monaco had been unbeaten at home this season before their shock 3-0 defeat against Lens a week ago, when they were handicapped by the early sending-off of defender Axel Disasi. He can return from suspension here, meaning Guillermo Maripan may drop out of the side.

In midfield Youssouf Fofana will be missed due to suspension, but Kovac will surely not want to break up his strike pairing of Volland and Wissam Ben Yedder. They combined for the only goal of the game at Dijon and have scored 13 goals between them this season.

Probable teams

Monaco: To follow

Saint-Etienne: To follow