Monaco 3 - 1 Montpellier: Monégasques sail to victory over La Paillade

AS Monaco moved up to eighth in Ligue 1 with a convincing 3-1 win over Montpellier HSC, which means they have now lost just once in their last 21 H2H home games.

The hosts were on the front foot right from the off, with Kevin Volland testing Jonas Omlin with a snapshot from inside the area which the Montpellier stopper did well to palm away. It didn’t take long for 'The Monégasques’ to take the lead, with full-back Caio Henrique able to sprint all the way to the byline before squaring the ball to an unmarked Volland, who swept home from close range. 

The impressive Volland turned provider with a wonderful cross with the outside of his left foot to put the ball on a plate for Wissam Ben Yedder, who headed in at the back post to double Monaco’s lead. Chances were hard to come by for the visitors, but they did fashion one when Stephy Mavididi curled straight at Alexander Nübel from the edge of the area.

Niko Kovač’s side put the result beyond doubt just after the hour mark when Henrique’s shot from inside the area was blocked by the Montpellier defence, but fell into the path of the predatory Gelson Martins who was on hand to sweep in for Monaco’s third of the afternoon and put the result beyond doubt.

 However, Montpellier were awarded a penalty after a clumsy challenge inside the box from Strahinja Pavlović, and Téji Tedy Savanier stepped up to fire into the top left corner and pull a late consolation goal back for his side.

This was as good as it got for 'La Paillade’, however, with the victory moving Monaco back into contention at the top of Ligue 1, albeit they have played at least one game more than most of their rivals.