Given the long wait for a success here, the home crowd were audibly desperate for an early lift, but they almost got the exact opposite inside just two minutes, when Folarin Balogun hit the bar from close range at the end of an inviting cross.
The Nice faithful then saw an initial penalty turned down by VAR, following an accidental handball from Thilo Kehrer under pressure from Gabin Bernardeau as he attempted to latch onto a loose aerial ball inside the box.
From there, the remainder of the opening half-hour was a tale of disruption and ill temperament, with Balogun and Sofiane Diop both going into the book.
Nice looked to have some potential on the counter-attack, with Elye Wahi’s pace proving difficult for Monaco’s right flank to stem.
However, the Eaglets were looking increasingly nervous in defence as half-time approached, with one flashpoint seeing a needless giveaway by Dante that allowed Monaco to steal possession. A succession of passes ended with Maxime Dupe being forced into a save, with only the stopper’s outstretched leg preventing Lamine Camara from firing in at his near post.
With 17 of the 25 prior goals seen in Monaco’s away league games coming after the break, a slip-up from either side seemed inevitable sooner or later. Once again, Dante was almost the guilty party, as his botched clearance from a ball into the Nice box found Aleksandr Golovin on the edge of it. The Russian fired in a sizzling low shot on the volley, but Dupe was equal to it with a fantastic reflex dive at full stretch.
For their part, Nice weren’t as dynamic going forward as they had been before half-time, and – perhaps aware of the 80% win rate for teams scoring first in Monaco’s league matches – prioritised caution over risk in terms of their build-up play.
Even without that significant figure, the apparent cost of a mistake was multiplying by the minute as the endgame approached. Just moments after Wahi fired an effort too close to Philipp Kohn, a dreadful mix-up at the back forced the Swiss stopper to race out of goal and clear. He could only find Diop, but the Moroccan saw his curled shot at an open goal blocked theatrically by the heel of Kehrer’s boot and away to safety.
With neither team ultimately able to take the initiative, Nice remain 13th in the table, but now sit a comfortable nine points clear of the relegation playoff spot.
Monaco, meanwhile, have moved up a place by virtue of goal difference – though they will know that it could have been far better, especially as a bit more composure up front would have given them their first away win-to-nil of the league campaign.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Thilo Kehrer (Monaco)
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