Ligue 1 Matchday 32, Saturday, 03.05.2025 at 21:05
Everything has been decided in the French Ligue 1 – but only at the top! Behind them, the race for the remaining places is raging, with six teams fighting for the runner-up spot. Monaco is also keeping its options open.
The Monegasques are not in their strongest phase at the moment, so a trip to a relegation candidate sounds quite treacherous. Accordingly, I will now reveal to you in my St. Etienne Monaco tip why I am betting on a close match with goals at both ends.
58 points for Marseille, 54 for Strasbourg – the gap between the current second-placed team in Ligue 1 and the seventh-placed team promises an incredibly exciting final phase. Behind Paris, everything is still open, partly because not all the top clubs are showing the desired consistency.
Monaco has won one of its last four games, so given the fierce competition for the Champions League, they need to look around. Sure, the 3-0 win against Marseille was all the sweeter, but the recent 1-1 draw against Le Havre, for example, was completely out of place.
The team simply lacks the winning streak it needs to put pressure on the competition. Since the end of September, it has managed to win three times, twice in a row, but a triple was out of the question.
Added to this is a weakness away from home that is uncharacteristic of a top team. Only ONE win in the last ten away games? Far too few! They have lost six times in this period, five times by a score of 1-2.
Accordingly, I would take a look at Bwin and consider this exact result bet. If you want to risk a 1-2 on Saturday, you can expect odds of 18.5.
No question, it’s very risky, but if it pays off, it’s all the more profitable. Monaco has won a third of all its away games, and in the last nine matches, there have been only four goals in the first 45 minutes.
AS went into the break trailing twice in a row. For you, that could mean risking a bet on “Monaco won’t score in the first half,” which will get you great odds of 2.75 at Bwin.
The “Double Chance X2” after the first half could also be interesting, with odds of 1.87. After all, there have only been two halftime leads away from home since the beginning of December.
By the way, I can recommend the voucher code at Bwin, which allows you to double your deposit up to 100 euros. There’s no question that the mood has been better in the principality.
It would of course help with regard to the upcoming weekend if St. Etienne were among the favorite opponents – the 1-0 defeat in the first leg does not give much hope.
However, the fact that Monaco won the last four encounters is not bad. But since there were also five games without a win before that, I would not attach too much importance to the direct comparison.
For bookmakers offering ApplePay, Monaco is the clear favorite either way, as evidenced by average odds of 6.50 to 1.42. Of course, this also has to do with the league table.
St. Etienne is at the bottom of the table, three points behind the safety zone. They have conceded a whopping 71 goals, which, together with bottom-placed Montpellier, makes them the worst defense in the league.
After a surprising 3-1 win against Lyon, they immediately slipped back into form, losing 3-1 to Strasbourg. At least they have managed to score in 15 of their last 17 games.
At home, however, St. Etienne is much stronger. Six of their seven wins have come here, and they have “only” lost six games – twice as many away from home. They have beaten three opponents who are now fighting for Champions League places: Lille, Strasbourg, and Lyon.
It is also interesting to note that Les Verts have scored before halftime in their last five home games. If they manage to do so again this weekend and you follow our tip, you can benefit from odds of 2.25 at Bwin.
Will the away game against St. Etienne be a walk in the park? The bookmakers’ odds suggest so, but I’m not quite so optimistic. Monaco are not in good form away from home, with just one win in their last ten games speaking volumes.
St. Etienne may be easy to beat defensively, but Les Verts have also improved offensively. What’s more, their home games aren’t that bad overall.
All in all, I don’t think the visitors will have an easy game here. Since St. Etienne needs to tighten the reins due to their precarious position in the table, my prediction is:
Both teams to score!
