Golovin leads Monaco out of drop zone

Russia midfielder Aleksandr Golovin scored twice and set up a third goal as Monaco moved out of the Ligue 1 relegation zone with a 3-1 win over Patrick Vieira’s Nice on Tuesday night.
Golovin’s double came either side of Patrick Burner’s equaliser before he fed Wissam Ben Yedder to claim Leonardo Jardim’s first three points of the campaign, lifting some of the pressure from the Portuguese coach.
“Unfortunately, the season does not start tonight, but the team played a great game. There is no doubt,” said Jardim, who returned to the club only months after being sacked last season following Thierry Henry’s ill-fated spell in charge. “Our physical condition is getting better every match.”
The 30-time Russia international opened the scoring just before the half-hour mark as captain Cesc Fabregas marked the first victory of the season with his maiden assist for Monaco. Former Chelsea and Barcelona playmaker Fabregas, who joined the Ligue 1 side in January, found Golovin inside the box and the attacker smashed his finish high into the top corner.
The hosts were denied a quick second four minutes later as Islam Slimani’s effort was ruled out for offside by VAR. Vieira’s side were back on level terms eight minutes into the second period. Monaco made a mess of clearing a short corner and right-back Burner scored his first senior goal.
Golovin’s second came with quarter of an hour to play as Slimani played a square ball for the 23-year-old to finish smoothly. He then teed up summer signing Ben Yedder who made sure of all three points, beating Walter Benitez with ease and securing Jardim’s first win since May.
Earlier, Andre Villas-Boas’ Marseille struggled to a 0-0 draw at winless Dijon but moved to third in the table due to Nice’s third loss of the campaign. The Portuguese coach was without influential midfielder Dimitri Payet and centre-back Boubacar Kamara due to suspensions from red cards received in last weekend’s tie at home to Montpellier.
Dijon’s only previous point of the campaign was against Nimes earlier in the month and defeats at the Stade Gaston-Gerard to Saint-Etienne and Bordeaux leave them bottom of the table. “For now, seeing the table where Dijon had only one point beforehand and the sides who had won here, we should have won, but it was a very difficult game for us,” former Chelsea boss Villas-Boas said.
Despite their best efforts Dijon, who have only scored thee times in six games this season, failed to beat Mandanda as Villas-Boas’ men stretched their unbeaten run to half a dozen games.
Last night, champions Paris Saint-Germain were hosting Reims to the Parc des Princes with Kylian Mbappe sitting out with a thigh injury before an expected return for Saturday’s trip to Bordeaux.