Lyon goalkeeper Lucas Perri was almost left red-faced inside seven minutes after seeing his attempted clearance charged down by Mika Biereth, who saw his block go wide.
However, a few minutes later, Lyon, who ahead of this game were in seventh place, four points worse off than Monaco, could have gone ahead, sweeping upfield sensationally, only for Tanner Tessmann to fluff his lines at the crucial moment.
Hot on the heels of that chance, Monaco stopper Philipp Kohn flew to his right to deny Alexandre Lacazette following Thiago Almada’s delightful through ball, before at the other end, Perri was quick off his line to thwart Takumi Minamino.
Midway through the first half, Lyon were forced into a change as Clinton Mata hobbled off, to be replaced by Duje Caleta-Car, and they may have subsequently felt lucky not to fall a goal behind as Lamine Camara’s flighted pass over the visitors’ defence found Jordan Teze. However, instead of shooting, the Dutchman cut the ball back for Minamino, whose deflected effort went behind for a corner.
Nicolas Tagliafico’s crucial interception then prevented Minamino’s square pass from finding Biereth, and in his first real involvement of the contest, Malick Fofana’s curling strike was well-tipped behind by Kohn.
Neither Adi Hutter nor Paulo Fonseca elected to make a substitution at half-time, but both men will have been craving greater attacking threat from their respective teams.
It was Monaco who registered the first shot on target after the break, with Perri parrying Breel Embolo’s strike before Maghes Akliouche hit the side-netting.
Lyon had the threats of Rayan Cherki and Georges Mikautadze on the bench ready to be unleashed, but neither attacker had entered the field before Jordan Veretout’s underhit pass sold Nemanja Matic and Monaco capitalised devastatingly. Minamino carried the ball into the Lyon box and fired unerringly across Perri and into the far corner.
Cherki was duly introduced, but his side soon had more work to do as Ainsley Maitland-Niles fouled Caio Henrique, and Lamine Camara’s resulting free-kick was headed in cleverly by captain Denis Zakaria.
Mikautadze then belatedly made an appearance, but it was too little, too late for Lyon, who must now beat Angers on the final day next Saturday to have any chance of playing in Europe next season.
Monaco, meanwhile, travel to RC Lens in party mode, especially after keeping three successive home clean sheets in Ligue 1 for the first time since February 2022.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Denis Zakaria (AS Monaco)