- 1 Le Havre vs Monaco: three days between a European trip and a league opener
- 2 Le Havre: a window built on returns and rare stability in the dugout
- 3 Monaco: a summer of exits and an immediate packed schedule
- 4 Ligue 1 prediction Le Havre vs Monaco
- 5 First, a word on our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your role
- 9 Responsible gambling comes first
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About the visuals…
Le Havre vs Monaco: three days between a European trip and a league opener 
Monaco played their first competitive game of the season on Thursday 20 August, the first leg of their Conference League playoff at the Ernest-Pohl Stadium in Zabrze, and came away with a valuable 3-2 win over . Seventy-two hours later, they are back in action to kick off their league campaign in Normandy.
Kick-off for this opening-day clash is set for Sunday 23 August at 17:15 at the CMA CGM Oceane Stadium. The game will be shown live on Ligue 1+.
Le Havre arrive from the exact opposite position. The Sky and Navy have not played a competitive match for more than three months and come in fresh, but without any real rhythm before meeting Monaco.
The Normandy club has made that long off-season a talking point of its own, presenting the restart as the end of a wait of more than three months for its supporters. That matters for a side whose stadium atmosphere is a genuine weapon.
The two clubs have had transfer windows heading in opposite directions. Le Havre brought back a number of old faces, while Monaco banked a major sale and lost an experienced player just days before the restart.
Didier Digard is heading into his third season in the Le Havre dugout, a rare stretch of continuity for a club at this level. It may be the least measurable asset at the club, but it is probably the most real.
Filipe Luis, meanwhile, has to juggle a double header from the first week of the season, with a second leg to prepare for straight away. Squad management will shape his decisions on Sunday.
The schedule, the freshness and the absences all carry as much weight as the sporting gap here. That is exactly where the intrigue lies.
Le Havre: a window built on returns and rare stability in the dugout 
Le Havre finished pre-season with a 1-0 win away at Le Mans on 15 August. A week earlier, they had gone down 3-2 at Real Oviedo.
Those two outings sum up the side nicely: good enough to grind out a tight result, less comfortable when the game opens up. Didier Digard is entering his third season in charge.
A product of the club and a former first-team midfielder, the Le Havre coach has a level of backing few managers get in Ligue 1. That gives him room to push a more ambitious footballing plan than he had at the start.
Demba Ba took over the sporting director role after three years in the same job at USL Dunkerque. His first transfer window at Le Havre has focused on familiarity rather than flashy gambles.
Amir Richardson has returned to his boyhood club three years after winning Ligue 2. Junior Mwanga has also come back, a year after helping Strasbourg stay up.
Timothee Pembele, who was on loan in the previous two seasons, has now signed permanently for Le Havre. Around them, Ayumu Seko, Rassoul Ndiaye and Ally Samatta provide the backbone.
Sota Nakamura, Vincent Sasso, Kaito Mizuta, Josh Maja and Joan Tincres complete the group. Le Havre now have a deeper squad than in their previous top-flight seasons.
Noam Obougou has been loaned to Nancy on 12 August in a bid to get more minutes. The club has set out its pecking order before the season starts, rather than letting it sort itself out later.
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Monaco: a summer of exits and an immediate packed schedule 
Monaco sold Maghnes Akliouche to Paris Saint-Germain for about 50 million euros this summer. Filipe Luis had publicly asked for a winger to soften the blow of that departure.
Matthis Abline arrived from Nantes in the same window, in a deal that became the biggest sale in the club’s history. The forward, though, has been struggling with a foot injury reported in mid-August.
Ansu Fati, meanwhile, has been dealing with a calf issue ahead of the trip to Poland. Two attacking doubts for a game coming just three days after a European tie for AS Monaco.
The Spanish winger had already described Ligue 1 as a very physical league, saying the tempo surprised him when he arrived. A Sunday trip to Normandy after travelling to Poland is exactly the sort of test he was talking about.
Paul Pogba and the club ended their contract on 19 August in a joint statement. The France midfielder had played six matches, starting just once, and totalled only 115 minutes across the entire season.
His deal was due to run until June 2027, but it has now been cut short before Monaco have even played a league game. That trims the wage bill, but it also thins out the experience.
The club has also revived interest in Mexican midfielder Erik Lira, with a second bid of around 5 million euros sent to Cruz Azul. The middle of the pitch remains the most obvious work in progress for ASM.
Aladji Bamba has joined Newcastle in a deal that could rise to 40 million euros, while Lamine Camara is also drawing interest from England. The hierarchy is not done selling before the window shuts.
[bet365_cta]
Likely Le Havre line-up: Not announced at time of publication.
Likely Monaco line-up: Not announced at time of publication.
Ligue 1 prediction Le Havre vs Monaco
Our prediction: Le Havre or draw
Monaco head from Poland on Thursday to a league opener on Sunday afternoon, with Ansu Fati and Matthis Abline both carrying knocks. Physically, this is about as awkward as it gets for a side trying to manage a European tie over two legs.
Le Havre, by contrast, begin their season with a squad rebuilt around players who know the club, and with a coach who has been in place for three years. The 1-0 win at Le Mans shows they already know how to see out a result.
The departures of Paul Pogba, Akliouche and Bamba have drained Monaco of some experience without the incoming business being finished. The Monaco midfield still looks like the big question mark.
So the double chance is with the Normandy side against Monaco.
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