Ligue 1 title contenders Monaco stunned at home by resurgent Angers
Angers have been notoriously poor travellers in Ligue 1 but began with confidence in the principality. Jim Allevinah almost made Caio Henrique pay for some sloppiness in the Monaco defence in the opening exchanges, as he rifled a ferocious attempt over the bar.
That was a sign of things to come, and Jean-Eudes Aholou stunned the Stade Louis II with a superb first-time, left-footed strike after being teed up by Allevinah to give Angers a surprise lead.
The Ivorian had scored his second goal in as many games, and one that Alexandre Dujeux’s side deserved on the balance of play.
Adi Hutter would have been disappointed by his side’s first-half display. Their best chance of the opening 45 minutes came when the enterprising Henrique skewed a right-footed shot wide.
Maghnes Akliouche looked to take matters into his own hands following the restart and was not too far away from restoring parity with a left-footed strike which just cleared the right-hand post.
There was an added intensity in Monaco’s style of play, and Wilfried Singo was next to try his luck through an angled attempt which flew over the bar following a neat one-two with Breel Embolo.
It looked like Embolo would finally restore parity to the scoreline, but Yahia Fofana made an excellent save with his outstretched right leg to deny the Swiss international from deep inside the box.
The 27-year-old was enduring a frustrating night and failed to find the target with another chance after brilliantly taking Takumi Minamino’s cut-back into his stride.
Ultimately, Dujeux’s men did enough to claim a second league win of the season to move up one place into 14th, ending a run of seven straight defeats against Monaco.
Meanwhile, Hutter marked his 50th game in charge of the hosts with a defeat which could leave them six points adrift of league leaders Paris Saint-Germain in less than 24 hours’ time.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jean-Eudes Aholou (Angers)