A goal from Fabian Lemoine has given Saint-Etienne a 1-0 lead at half time over Monaco in their Ligue 1 match this afternoon.

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Valere Germain had an early sight of goal for the visitors, but he dragged a shot wide from the edge of the box.

The home side came close soon after when Lemoine fired in a low volley that narrowly missed the target.

In the 18th minute Saint-Etienne took the lead through Lemoine, who latched on to a loose ball outside the box before hammering a powerful strike past Danijel Subasic and into the top corner.

Geoffrey Kondogbia came close to equalising for the visitors but Stephane Ruffier kept out his strike, before Nicolas Isimat-Mirin saw an effort cleared off the line.

Lemoine almost grabbed a second at the end of the half after being set up by Brandao, but Subasic pushed his low strike wide of the post.