Ajaccio, France (SportsNetwork.com) - With their Ligue 1 title hopes hanging by a thread, AS Monaco faces a must-win situation on Saturday against relegation-threatened Ajaccio at the Stade Francois Coty.
The Principality club enters Saturday's clash 10 points behind league leaders Paris Saint-Germain with four games to play. A loss by Claudio Ranieri's club would hand a second consecutive title to PSG, while a victory would keep hope alive and force PSG to come up with a win over Sochaux.
After suffering a shock 3-1 loss to Guingamp in the Coupe de France on April 16, Monaco bounced back nicely four days later with a 1-0 win over Nice at the Stade Louis II.
Monaco got off to the perfect start on Sunday when Joao Moutinho benefited from some lapse defending to pick out Dimitar Berbatov on the left of the area and the Bulgarian sent a seemingly effortless lob over David Ospina and into the far corner.
Nice had a rare foray into the attacking third in the final 20 minutes, creating several opportunities, but they could never break down a stout Monaco back line.
Even if Monaco comes away victorious on Saturday, PSG can claim its second straight league title with a victory over Sochaux.
PSG enters Sunday riding a two-game winning streak across all competitions following a 1-0 loss to Lyon in Ligue 1 on April 13. They bounced back to beat Lyon by a 2-1 margin last Saturday to win the Coupe de la Ligue.
They inched closer to the title with a nervy 1-0 win over Evian on Wednesday at the Parc des Princes.
PSG struggled to get into the game against Evian until Kassim Abdallah was sent off just past the hour mark, reducing the visitors to 10 men.
With the extra man, PSG finally grabbed a winning goal in the 89th minute through midfielder Blaise Matuidi, who smashed it past Evian goalkeeper Jesper Hansen to put the capital club on the brink of the title.
"They are three crucial points in the race for the title. It wasn't a great game, we were even pretty poor in the first half," PSG boss Laurent Blanc said. "We didn't start the game with the right attitude. We were better in the second half, we created chances and we scored late on thanks to Blaise. He never gives up, he's a player that believes right to the very end. It's not just a coincidence that he scored. We need to show a different attitude and approach if we want to win the league against Sochaux on Sunday."
Also in Ligue 1 on Sunday, Lyon welcomes Bastia to the Stade de Gerland, while Lille hopes to move closer to securing a Champions League qualification spot with a victory over Bordeaux.
On Saturday, Evian hosts St Etienne at the Parc des Sports, Guingamp hosts Valenciennes, Montpellier battles Toulouse, Nice hosts Reims and Rennes welcomes Lorient to the Stade de la Route de Lorient.
Friday's action saw Serge Gakpe and Florian Thauvin trade goals as Nantes and Marseille played to a 1-1 draw.
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