Monaco couldn’t find a way through in their mid-week stalemate with Tottenham, but took less than three minutes to do so tonight when a corner was played back to Kassoum Ouattara, and his cross was powered in by the head of Mohammed Salisu.
The home side came close to doubling their lead minutes later, but Toulouse goalkeeper Guillaume Restes did well to smother Ansu Fati’s chance.
Those would remain the only opportunities for either side until after the mid-point of the half, when Rasmus Nicolaisen’s block took the sting out of a goal-bound Takumi Minamino strike, before the visitors finally tested Philipp Kohn, who got down well to deal with Yann Gboho’s daisycutter.
Restes then kept his side in the game 10 minutes before the break, producing a superb save to deny Folarin Balogun, as Fati failed to convert the rebound.
Les Violets scored eight times across their previous three matches, but seldom looked like troubling the Monaco goal before the hour mark, at which point Balogun tried to catch Restes off his line, but an undercooked shot was catching practice for the goalkeeper.
That seemed to spark some life into the visitors, for whom Emersonn was the driving force – his header spun just wide when connecting with Dayann Methalie’s whipped cross, before his deflected effort made life uncomfortable for Kohn.
The home side passed up a glorious chance to settle matters with 12 minutes to play, when amid a goalmouth scramble inside the Toulouse box, the ball dropped for Ouattara, who clattered it against the post.
Carles Martinez Novell’s side generated some late pressure, but couldn’t create a much-needed chance, and leave the principality with successive H2H losses, having won the previous two meetings there.
It’s now 11 wins and two draws at Stade Louis II in Ligue 1 for Monaco, who remain unbeaten there in 2025.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Kassoum Ouattara (Monaco)