Championship outsiders AS Monaco and Saint-Etienne have entered the interval of their Ligue 1 clash still level at 0-0.
Both sides won their three most recent games prior to the international break to suggest that they could rival Marseille, Lyon and leaders Paris Saint-Germain for the title.
With the stakes high, the opening 45 minutes at Stade Louis II was predictably cagey as Monaco dominated possession and Saint-Etienne threatened on the counter-attack.
Les Verts had the best two chances of the first half as Kevin Monnet-Paquet forced Danijel Subasic to tip over the crossbar with a close-range shot and Mevlut Erding struck into the side-netting from a tight angle.
The Champions League quarter-finalists recalled former Manchester United forward Dimitar Berbatov to their starting XI, but the Bulgarian was quiet as Matheus Carvalho headed Monaco's only decent opportunity over the bar.
Joe Fish
