OUR man in France is Julien Laurens and tonight he's looking at two key Sunday games.
Julien is a London-based sports correspondent for Le Parisien and a veritable French football expert. He writes in French and English for a number of esteemed publications and is a regular on BT Sport as well as contributing to Unibet.
Angers v Marseille (Sun 4pm)
Marseille travel to Angers on Sunday afternoon, four days after a great win against RB Salzburg in the Europa League semi-final first leg (2-0). Marseille have a foot in the final, but they also have to focus on the league, as they are right in the mix to finish second and qualify directly for the Champions League next season. They are level third with Lyon, just one point behind Monaco.
Rudi Garcia might rest some of his key players for this game so they are ready for the second leg against RB Salzburg. but he will still play a competitive team. Lucas Ocampos picked up an injury on Thursday and is out, as is Sakai and Mandanda, who are also injured.
Rolando should get his place back in the team though. Marseille have won their last four games in all competitions, with their star players performing really well, most notably, Florian Thauvin – 23 goals this season in all competitions, and Dimitri Payet – two assists on the night on Thursday. They have done well away from home this season in the league, with the third best record and they have not lost in Angers since 1979.
Angers have almost secured their place in Ligue 1 next season. They are currently 14th in the table, eight points clear of the bottom three. It has been a tough season for them, but they are convinced they will stay up. They probably just need one more win and they believe they can get it on Sunday.
Julien's Tips
- Angers 1, Marseille 1 (6-1, Unibet)
- Ekambi to score first (13-2, Unibet)
- Draw and btts (7-2, Unibet)
PSG v Guingamp (Sun 9pm)
The Parisians, already crowned champions, are chasing a record 100 points this season and they want to continue their impressive current run of form of 17 wins and one draw in their last 18 domestic encounters.
They didn’t play well last weekend at Bordeaux but still won 1-0. Paris also have an incredible home record this season with 17 wins in 17 league matches at the Parc des Princes. They are aiming to win their remaining two games there to make it a perfect campaign at home. Unai Emery will leave at the end of the season, but he wants to finish his tenure on a high.
He will still be without Neymar, Marco Verratti and Lassana Diarra, who are all injured. On the other hand, Angel Di Maria is back from injury after missing the game last weekend at Bordeaux. Edinson Cavani has scored 17 goals in as many home league matches and he will want to increase his tally as well, while Kylian Mbappé has been on fire lately.
Paris have an excellent record at home against Guingamp. They scored 13 goals against them in their last three encounters at the Parc des Princes (4-0, 3-0, 6-0) and have only lost once against them in their whole history.
Guingamp have secured their safety for next season and are currently 10th in the table, despite a tough start to the season. Their away form has not been great at all, with just four wins on the road but they have nothing to lose in this game and just want to have fun.
Julien's Tips
- PSG 4, Guingamp 0 (13-2, Unibet)
- Di Maria to score first (19-5, Unibet)
- PSG to score 4+ (26-25, Unibet)
