Ben Yedder had been without a goal in five games since his consolation penalty strike in defeat to Olympique de Marseille at the start of December, the French international watching Kevin Volland pull ahead of him in the team's scoring charts since.

The former Toulouse FC and Sevilla man was back to his free-scoring best on Friday, though, scoring a brace that might have been a hat-trick had the scissor-kick which led to Volland's opener in the 3-2 win not crashed back off the crossbar.

Frustration

Kovac kept faith with Ben Yedder in last Saturday's 3-0 win over Angers SCO, and although he wasn't on the scoresheet last weekend, the Croatian coach wasn't surprised to see his player break his duck this.

"This was Wissam's best game," he asserted after play had concluded at the Stade de la Mosson. "In the last match he fought for the team and that's what I expect from a striker. Today he did the same job and scored. It was a great match for him and for Monaco."

Monaco have now won four of their last five games, drawing the other, and could close to within a point of the Ligue 1 Uber Eats podium with victory over Olympique de Marseille next Saturday. Kovac expects his side to be more disciplined if they are to do so, though.

'It's never safe'

"My team played very well up to making it 3-0 but the last 30 minutes weren't what I wanted," he said. "The players must have thought it was over, but that's never safe. Ultimately, we're eight points ahead of Montpellier and that's what we wanted.

"Once it was 3-0 a few players were waiting for the fourth or fifth goal. I warned them that Montpellier were putting crosses in, that they were trying to put the ball in box. On their first goal, we played offside and it wasn't necessary. But we could've scored the fourth and it would've been over."