Third meets fourth in a tantalising showdown between two Ligue 1 title rivals as Paris Saint-Germain welcome Monaco to the Parc des Princes on Sunday evening.
The hosts warmed up for this game with a 4-1 thrashing of Barcelona in the Champions League, while Monaco only just salvaged a draw against Lorient last time out.
Match preview
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No Neymar? No Angel Di Maria? No problem for PSG. The French champions were expected to struggle in the absence of their two influential wingers, but Kylian Mbappe made Camp Nou his playground with an astonishing hat-trick in Tuesday's first-leg triumph, while the in-form Moise Kean also got in on the act.
With Lionel Messi often cutting a frustrated figure on the night, many believe that the torch has been handed over to Mbappe from the six-time Ballon d'Or winner - now 33 - although there is still the prospect of Mbappe and Messi turning out for PSG together next season if their interest in the Argentine bears fruit this summer.
Debates over the world's greatest player aside, 21-goal Mbappe would love nothing more than to continue his hot streak against his old employers this weekend, where a win would see Mauricio Pochettino's men extend their winning streak across all competitions to six matches.
Lille, Lyon and Monaco all faltered in the race for the Ligue 1 title last weekend, and the reigning champions needed no second invitation to take advantage of the trio's slip-ups as they marched to a 2-1 victory over Nice - a result which propelled them up to third in the table, one point below second-placed Lille after Lyon overcame Brest on Friday.
A surprise defeat to Lorient has been the only blot on Pochettino's scrapbook since the turn of the year, and unsurprisingly, PSG boast the best home record in the French top flight - scoring a league-high 34 and shipping a league-low six goals in their 13 Parc des Princes outings so far.
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Wissam Ben Yedder must be starting to lose count of all the times he has bailed Monaco out of trouble, but Niko Kovac will certainly be grateful to have the 30-year-old in his ranks as he saved his manager's bacon against 17th-placed Lorient last weekend.
Les Monegasques had won eight on the trot in all competitions before the visit of Lorient, who showed exactly why they overcame PSG a few weeks before as Terem Moffi's double threatened a rare defeat for Monaco, but Ben Yedder's 12th and 13th goals of the season saw them avoid a first defeat of 2021.
Kovac's side were seemingly unstoppable before Les Merlus claimed a share of the spoils last weekend, but their momentum has now taken a significant hit ahead of Sunday's trip to the capital, and the visitors will need Ben Yedder - second in the goalscoring charts behind Mbappe - to be on top of his game if they are to avoid a drubbing.
Monaco will start the day five points below PSG in fourth, and while they are not in any danger whatsoever of being usurped by the teams below them, failure to take maximum points from their trip to the Parc des Princes would be another major blow to their title aspirations, especially if Lyon and Lille both return to winning ways as well.
Kovac's side have won their last five away from home in the league, despite shipping eight goals in that run, although they will fondly look back on their meeting with PSG earlier in the season, where an inspired second-half cameo from Cesc Fabregas saw them come from 2-0 down to beat the champions 3-2 on November 20.
Paris Saint-Germain Ligue 1 form: WWLWWW
Paris Saint-Germain form (all competitions): LWWWWW
Monaco Ligue 1 form: WWWWWD
Monaco form (all competitions): WWWWWD
Team News
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Paris Saint-Germain continue to make do without Neymar and Di Maria, the former of whom is likely to remain sidelined for another few weeks, but Kean is in no danger of being dropped from the flanks, especially with Pablo Sarabia now ruled out of this clash.
The defensive duo of Colin Dagba and Juan Bernat both remain sidelined, but neither of them would have been expected to push for starting berths here, although Timothee Pembele is available again.
Aside from the potential inclusion of Ander Herrera from the first whistle, Pochettino will understandably keep changes to a minimum.
Monaco manager Kovac is also expected to keep faith with the majority of the team from the draw with Lorient, but he will hope to have the rejuvenated Aleksandr Golovin back after the playmaker missed out against Les Merlus with muscular discomfort.
Ruben Aguilar and Krepin Diatta will battle it out to feature on the right-hand side if Golovin is not risked, although the latter was taken off at half time last Sunday.
The introduction of Fabregas turned the game on its head in the reverse fixture, but the former Arsenal and Chelsea midfielder is unlikely to be considered for a start here.
Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:
Navas; Florenzi, Marquinhos, Kimpembe, Kurzawa; Gueye, Paredes; Kean, Verratti, Mbappe; Icardi
Monaco possible starting lineup:
Lecomte; Sidibe, Maripan, Badiashile, Henrique; Golovin, Fofana, Tchouameni, Diop; Ben Yedder, Volland
We say: Paris Saint-Germain 3-2 Monaco
We are witnessing a clash not only between two of France's most successful and in-form sides, but also between two of the league's most prolific forwards in Mbappe and Ben Yedder. There are plenty of goals to be had in this game and Monaco can feel optimistic about their chances of notching up more than one - despite the hosts' remarkable defensive record - but a Mbappe-inspired PSG should have the firepower necessary to avenge November's defeat and come up trumps here.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Paris Saint-Germain win with a probability of 58.71%. A win for Monaco had a probability of 20.74% and a draw had a probability of 20.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Paris Saint-Germain win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.76%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (8.17%) and 1-0 (7.69%). The likeliest Monaco win was 1-2 (5.48%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (9.18%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 2.6% likelihood.
