As far as starts go, Monaco’s couldn’t have gone much better. The clock hadn't even ticked beyond two minutes when Breel Embolo was quickest to react as Alban Lafont parried Wissam Ben Yedder’s strike straight into the path of the Swiss international, who duly converted. Having been denied by Lafont in the build up to the opener, Ben Yedder was eager to make amends and just four minutes later, he was on the scoresheet himself with Embolo this time the provider as the hosts doubled their advantage.
By the half-hour mark, the Monégasques snatched a third to essentially lay to rest the game as a contest. Embolo took a back seat in this goal, with Aleksandr Golovin producing an inch-perfect pass for Ben Yedder who finished with aplomb to double his tally for the afternoon. The second half followed a similar pattern for Nantes, when Andrei Girotto tripped Kevin Volland in the area, which proved to be a perfect opportunity for Ben Yedder to step forward and complete his hat-trick on an afternoon where he became Monaco’s outright top Ligue 1 goalscorer this century.
See all the match stats here at Flashscore
Considering you’d have to go back to April for Nantes’ last away league victory, it perhaps wasn’t a surprise to see such a struggle on the road, though they did pull a goal back 10 minutes from time when Caio Henrique put through his own goal. The fact La Maison Jaune’s goal was scored for them by Monaco just about summed up their afternoon, but their focus must now switch back to Europe, with a UEFA Europa League clash against Freiburg on the horizon. As for Monaco, they may be some way off top spot, but they have sneaked up into fifth ahead of the evening’s fixture.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Wissam Ben Yedder (AS Monaco)
