🏏 Fri, 18 Sep 2026 20:45 CEST
AS Monaco
vs
RC Lens
4-4-2 vs 3-4-2-1
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- Second-placed Monaco (three wins, one draw, 10 points) host Lens, who sit 10th on four points from a win, a draw and two defeats. The title picture is congested: Lille lead on 10 points with a +5 goal difference, Monaco are level on points at +4 and Rennes also have 10. Six points already separate these two clubs.
- Monaco have not been beaten yet. They won 1-0 at Le Havre on the opening weekend, saw off Marseille 2-0 at home, then produced the statement result of the season so far by winning 2-1 away at Paris Saint-Germain. A 1-1 draw at Strasbourg followed. Just two goals conceded in four matches underpins their position.
- Lens began with a 5-2 demolition of Auxerre at home but have not won since. They lost 2-1 at Strasbourg, went down 1-0 at home to Lorient and were held to a 2-2 draw at Le Mans. Eight goals scored is a healthy return; seven conceded in the same four games is the number Lens need to address.
- Ruben Aguilar starts at right-back against a former club. The 33-year-old spent time at Monaco before moving to Lens, and his career has also taken in Montpellier, Auxerre and Grenoble. At 172cm he relies on stamina and repeated running to cover the flank, with delivery from wide areas among his strongest assets.
- The shape battle pits Monaco's 4-4-2 against a Lens 3-4-2-1. In the middle, 191cm Denis Zakaria, a Swiss destroyer with Juventus and Chelsea on his CV, partners 22-year-old Senegal international Lamine Camara, whose range of passing has drawn comparisons with N'Golo Kante and Sergio Busquets. Lens answer with Amadou Haidara, a seven-season Bundesliga veteran at RB Leipzig, and Bayern-schooled left-footer Michael Cuisance.
- Lens field a 17-year age gap in the two positions behind the striker. Florian Thauvin, 33, was part of France's 2018 World Cup-winning squad and scored 86 goals in 281 appearances for Marseille, cutting in from the right on his left foot. Beside him is Meziane Mesloub, a 16-year-old academy graduate born in 2009.
- Monaco's front pair are both young and both quick. Paris Brunner, 20, came through Borussia Dortmund's academy and sharpened up on loan at Cercle Brugge, using his 186cm frame to hold play up. Mathis Abline, 23, is a Rennes graduate who once moved to Nantes for a club-record fee of around 12 million euros. Lens counter with 188cm Senegal forward Abdallah Sima.
- There is a vast experience gap in the goalkeeping areas. Lukas Hradecky, 36, holds the record for most Bundesliga appearances by a foreign goalkeeper with 323 and captained Bayer Leverkusen through their unbeaten title campaign. Lens hand the gloves to 21-year-old Robin Risser, a 192cm Strasbourg product, and field 18-year-old Kilian Antonio in the back three.
- Both benches carry punch. Monaco can call on Arsenal academy graduate and United States striker Folarin Balogun, signed for 40 million euros in 2023, left-footed centre-back Christian Mawissa, a 16 million euro arrival from Toulouse, and Takumi Minamino, wearing number 18. Lens have Odsonne Edouard, formerly of Celtic, Leicester and Crystal Palace, plus Belgium's Thorgan Hazard, 33, back at the club where he first made his name.