Club Brugge vs Monaco Predictions

Thierry Henry’s Monaco reign didn’t get off to the strongest start, but the former Arsenal man has a chance to bounce back when he returns to Belgium this week. Henry left his role as Belgium’s assistant coach this month, and he takes his team to Brugge on Wednesday trying to end his side’s losing streak. They come into this clash struggling to make the last 16, and a negative result here could see them dumped out of Europe entirely. Will they spark a revival this week, or can Brugge claim three points?

The hosts have zero points from their first two matches, with a 1-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund and a 3-1 hammering at Atletico Madrid. Those two sides have taken the lead in this group, and it doesn’t seem like they’ll be stopped from taking up a last 16 slot. It’s going to take a huge turnaround from Brugge or a massive impact from Henry to change the dynamics of Group A.  A loss in Belgium would be the end for one of these two sides, but neither look to be capable of winning a game right now.

The hosts are winless in 12 Champions League games, while the visitors are without a win in 11 matches overall. That’s left them sat in the Ligue 1 relegation zone, with Henry’s first game bringing a 2-1 defeat at Strasbourg. He’s taken on a huge job trying to turn this team around, with the talent drain that they’ve seen in recent years leaving them unable to challenge the top sides in France. However, they are under-performing for all the talent they have. If Henry can get them firing in Europe, then their league fortunes could quickly turn around too.

Meanwhile, the hosts are up in second, but they aren’t much of a threat in Europe. Their defence clearly isn’t up to scratch, given that they last kept a clean sheet in this competition back in a qualifier in 2012. They will come under pressure from Monaco, but the Belgians should fancy themselves to cause problems against an out of form Monaco defence.

The visitors have had defensive issues in Europe for a long time. Since they last kept a clean sheet in the Champions League in November 2016 against CSKA Moscow, Monaco have conceded 38 goals in the competition – 10 more than any other team. Meanwhile, Club Brugge are without a clean sheet in their last 12 home Champions League games (W3 D2 L7), since a 0-0 draw against Lokomotiv Moscow in September 2002. With that in mind, we expect a high scoring game, so we’re going for over 2.5 goals.