Paris St-Germain have started their Ligue 1 title defence in formidable fashion and they will be aiming to inflict more misery on Monaco at Parc des Princes on Sunday evening.

PSG appear to finally have their superstar front three of Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar firing on all cylinders and they offered a demonstration of their destructive attacking quality when beating Nantes 4-0 in the Super Cup at the end of July.

In three subsequent Ligue 1 outings, Christophe Galtier's champions have been magnifique, putting five goals past both Clermont and Montpellier and flexing their muscles to an even greater degree in last weekend's 7-1 win over Lille.

Monaco, meanwhile, are yet to show the form which helped them to finish third last season.

The Monegasques opened their campaign with an away win at Strasbourg but have since drawn at home to Rennes before slumping to a 4-1 Stade Louis II defeat at the hands of Lens.

Team news

PSG remain without Julian Draxer while veteran second-choice goalkeeper Keylor Navas is also sidelined with a back injury.

Galtier will be forced into at least one change of personnel, with Portugal midfielder Vitinha facing a one-match suspension for accumulated yellow cards. Leandro Paredes is likely to come into the middle of the park.

Monaco will be without suspended Vanderson, with Ruben Aguilar the prime candidate to deputise at right-back. Myron Boadu is out, while Yilan Okou and Willem Geubells are doubtful.

The stats

While PSG have generally dominated French football over the last decade, they haven't always got the better of Monaco, who have won three of the last four Ligue 1 meetings between the teams.

Wissam Ben Yedder was on the mark twice as Monaco ran out 3-0 winners at Stade Louis II in March but the France international is yet to find the net in Ligue 1 this season, registering just one shot across two appearances.

His form contrasts hugely with that of Mbappe, Messi and Neymar, who have all played key roles in the nascent Galtier era and have looked far more fluid as a front three than they did under Mauricio Pochettino.

That trio have contributed 12 of the Parisians' 17 Ligue 1 goals with Neymar, in particular, catching the eye with five goals and five assists.

Prediction

With PSG in such devastating form, it's hard to see the hosts slipping up even when taking their poor recent record against Monaco into account.

Galtier's favoured 3-4-3 formation appears to be bringing out the best in the hosts' superstar names but their success can also be attributed to a solid back three, the waspish midfield presence of Marco Verratti and the dynamism of wing-backs Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes.

After just three matches, it would take a brave punter to oppose PSG in the Ligue 1 title race and Monaco, with just four points to show from their first three matches, look unlikely to stop the runaway Parisian train.

The hosts are averaging 5.25 goals per game in all competitions this season. If they strike early, this could again be a case of how many they rack up, so another high-scoring PSG victory looks the most likely outcome.