St Pryve St Hilaire vs Monaco Predictions

• Saint-Pryvé currently sit ninth in the fourth tier of France and will be without their great home record due to their stadium being too small for this stage of the competition; the match will instead take place at Orléans’ Stade de la Source.
• New Monaco manager Robert Moreno had a great start to life in the principality with a 3-3 draw against PSG and a 2-1 win over Ligue 1’s second-best defence in his first three matches; although a 4-1 defeat when Monaco met PSG for the second time in a row brought him down to earth a little.
• Monaco have won 10 of their last 17 matches, with 11 goals scored in their previous four games.
• Saint-Pryvé have just one clean sheet in their last four matches.

Saint-Pryvé hoping for another cup shock

Saint-Pryvé put in quite the shift in the previous round to get this far. They managed to beat Ligue 1 Toulouse 1-0 via an extremely dramatic winner in the 96th minute. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back as Violets manager Antoine Kombouaré was sacked in the wake of that match; but nevertheless Saint-Pryvé should be proud of their achievements and looking to put in a similar performance here against Monaco.

They currently sit ninth in the Championnat National 2, the fourth tier of France, but enter this match on a pretty good run of form. They’ve won six of their last eight matches in all competitions with their only defeat in this time coming against league leaders Sète (0-1).

Despite a 6-0 win over amateur opposition in the cup, Saint-Pryvé are generally quite poor going forward, with just 17 goals in 15 league games. They have a great home record but they could lose that momentum as this match is set to be played at Orléans’ Stade de la Source, due to their usual home ground Stade du Grand Clos being too small for this stage of the competition.

New Monaco boss hungry for silverware

Monaco will take any advantage they can find but there is a lot going on at the club at the moment that is generating positivity from the fans. They recently sacked hero-to-zero manager Leonardo Jardim in favour of bringing in former Spain head coach Robert Moreno. The Spaniard has only taken charge of three matches so far but they will probably be the most difficult of his first season at the club.

His debut as Monaco manager was against France’s second-best defence Reims, who they beat 2-1. This already brutal opener was followed by a double bill against PSG due to rescheduled matches. Monaco managed to get a draw (3-3) in Paris for the first time in two years before rather underwhelmingly losing 4-1 in the principality. 

Despite the most recent defeat, there is a buzz around the club and the possibility of silverware would only bolster that. Les Monegasques are in extremely fine form at the moment with an impressive run of 10 wins in their last 17 games stretching back to even before Moreno was at the club. The new coach has managed to keep the momentum going and Saint-Pryvé could be their next victim. 

The Ligue 1 side to dominate?

Monaco have 11 goals in their last four matches and while their away form is a bit more muddy with just the one win in their last five, their most recent outing was a famous draw against PSG, so we think they should be able to get past fourth-tier Saint-Pryvé here.

With this match being held at what is essentially a neutral venue, the ‘hosts’ will lose much of that energy they have built up at the Stade du Grand Clos and we feel this will play right into Monaco’s hands. Saint-Pryvé have just one clean sheet in their last four matches and even though they managed to get past an utterly awful Toulouse side in the previous round, Monaco are a different beast.

We’re backing the away side to win 3-0. Even though they have conceded seven goals in their last two matches, they all came against the best team in France. Even in these rollickings, it is obvious there is a better defensive shape under Moreno, with Kamil Glik looking notably impressive since the Spaniard’s arrival.