PARIS: Monaco follow up their stunning defeat of Arsenal in the Champions League in midweek by hosting French champions Paris Saint Germain in Ligue 1 on Sunday.
Leaders Lyon, who are two points ahead of second-placed PSG, travel to lacklustre Lille, while third-placed Marseille were desperate to stop their slide against form side Caen on Friday.
Monaco's Portuguese coach Leonardo Jardim has a string of injury worries, his side played 40 minutes with 10 men in last weekend's 1-0 win at Nice, but the team's morale is high after the dramatic 3-1 win at Arsenal on Wednesday.
"Now we have to get ready for Paris," Jardim said right after his side blew Arsenal away in their last 16 first leg. "We've won nothing yet and need to keep up our momentum, defending well, and attacking well."
Fourth placed Monaco could be forgiven for eyeing third placed Marseille, on whom they have a game in hand and who they trail by seven points with 12 games to go.
Paris were not in action in midweek and it is fair to say the visitors stand to be the fresher force.
But they'll need to breach a Monaco line-up which has the best defence in both the Champions League and Ligue 1, with Croatian international goalkeeper Danijel Subasic in impressive form.
Monaco's problem this year has been getting the goals since the departure of Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez.
But Jardim, who has forged a great team spirit, singled out Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov on Wednesday for a "huge" performance.
"We asked him to deliver, and he did that," said Jardim.
Other observers felt midfielder Joao Moutinho's midfield masterclass was the standout performance.
One man Monaco don't need to worry about on Sunday is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is suspended, leaving Laurent Blanc to play Javier Pastore behind fearsome duo Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani.
But Blanc has options in midfield where the brilliant pairing of Blaise Matuidi and Marco Verratti will be bolstered by Adrien Rabiot, who scored twice in the win over Toulouse last week, and the Brazilian David Luiz.
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