Olympique Lyonnais will look to build off their win over Toulouse FC when they travel to the Stade Louis-II to face AS Monaco, who want to keep the pace in the race for the Ligue 1 title.
It's been a tough start for Lyon in the 2023-24 season as the club finds itself in a relegation battle heading into the new year despite Alexandre Lacazette having put the squad on his back last weekend with a hat-trick to avoid them sinking further.
After a much-needed win, Lyon must begin their climb off of the bottom of the table. OL currently sit four points from safety, and they'll need to jump over three clubs to avoid relegation and remain in Ligue 1 for next season.
However, it won't come against an easy opponent as Monaco have been one of the league’s top clubs this season and will want to put pressure on OGC Nice and Paris Saint-Germain in the league ahead of the top two’s matches later in the weekend.
Form-wise, Monaco are coming off back-to-back wins heading into this matchup, and thus find themselves in good form. Takumi Minamino is one of the team’s prominent players in attack, with five goals and four assists so far this season.
If Lyon wants to pick up an away point from Monaco, keeping the Japanese star quiet will be atop their to-do list during the 90 minutes. Both teams need the points for different reasons, so it will be an exciting contest Friday night.
