Monaco goes on and eyes the podium

This Monaco has a good scarecrow head: diligent and realistic, the Principality club easily disposed of Clermont thanks to Guillermo Maripan (3rd) and Breel Embolo (13th), continuing its good series to land claiming to qualifying for the Champions League.

While waiting for the Lens match at the end of the afternoon in Brest, and the Marseille-Nice clash in the evening, ASM has 44 points, within shooting range of the Lensois (45 pts) and the Marseillais (46 pts), dolphins of Paris SG (54 pts).

A successful pressure move for Philippe Clement's team, which has not lost in L1 since the post-World Cup resumption (5 wins and 2 draws in seven matches) and is moving forward with full confidence before challenging PSG on Saturday next.

Better, she chained a 32nd consecutive day with at least one goal scored, a symbol of her offensive firepower: it was first Maripan who scored with a header deflected by Mateusz Wieteska (3rd), then Aleksandr Golovin dribbled into the area and served Embolo for a diving header (13th).

Lorient at a standstill, end of the Angers spiral

The spectacular Lorient transfer window, for the time being, is not yet bearing fruit.

After a 4-2 defeat in Reims on Wednesday, Les Merlus followed up with a frustrating draw (0-0) against bottom side Angers, despite the first start of their recruits Bamba Dieng, Jean-Victor Makengo and Romain Faivre.

Lorient's Julien Ponceau (c) scored by Angevins Yan Valéry and Himad Abdelli, February 5, 2023 at the Moustoir stadium © Sebastien SALOM-GOMIS / AFP

Lorient remains seventh (36 pts), with a taste of unfinished business given the Breton opportunities at the end of the game, while for Angers, this draw is a relief: its record series of defeats in L1 stopped at 13 consecutive losses.

The SCO remains last (9 pts), but finally took a small point, for the first time since September!

Strasbourg frees itself, Nantes breathes

Finally, Strasbourg won at home this season: thanks to a double from Habid Diallo (1st, 45th + 1), Racing ended its long drought at La Meinau at the expense of Montpellier 2-0, despite the exclusion precocious from the Strasbourg midfielder Jean-Eudes Aholou (35th).

It's a success that does good to the Alsatians, only their third this season but the first in front of their home crowd.

And it's a relief for the team coached by Mathieu Le Scornet, still relegated (17th, 18 pts) but who are only two lengths behind a plummeting MHSC (14th, 20 pts).

In the end, the red card received by Aholou for a poorly controlled tackle did not benefit Montpellier, which also saw its president Laurent Nicollin, present on the bench, being excluded for dispute.

For its part, Auxerre (19th, 14 pts) could not do better than a 0-0 draw against Reims but, at least, ended its black series of seven consecutive defeats in L1.

And Ajaccio (18th, 18 pts) lost 2-0 at home against Nantes, on goals from Evann Guessand (64th) and Ludovic Blas (88th from the penalty spot).

A relief for Nantes (13th, 25 pts), a new blow for Ajacciens, stuck in the red zone...

© 2023 AFP