Marseille travel to the Stade de la Mosson to face Montpellier in their opening fixture of the new French Ligue 1 season. Marseille are looking to build on a solid preseason campaign and should have too much for an erratic Montpellier team.
Montpellier suffered a 1-0 defeat to fellow Ligue 1 side Metz in their final preseason fixture. They fell behind midway through the first half and could not find a way back into the contest.
Montpellier finished eighth last season after being inconsistent throughout the campaign. They appear to have carried that inconsistency into preseason, claiming two wins and suffering three defeats in five warm-up fixtures.
Olivier Dall’Oglio's men are also unconvincing at home and have claimed just one win in their last five Ligue 1 matches at the Stade de la Mosson. Defending has been a problem for Montpellier with just one clean sheet in their last 11 Ligue 1 matches.
Marseille endured a turbulent campaign last season, with off-field problems involving former manager Andre Villas Boas. They will be keen to improve on their fifth-place finish with a return to Europe high on their agenda.
It was not all bad for Jorge Sampaoli's men last season as they claimed some major scalps on the road, including wins against the top two Lille and PSG.
Marseille head into Sunday’s season opener off the back of a 2-1 friendly victory over Europa League champions Villarreal. Goals in each half from Fer Nito and Dimitri Payet gave them the lead before the Spaniards pulled one back two minutes from time.
How the bookies view it
The bookies have Marseille as overwhelming favourites with a win priced at 25/19 by SBK. A victory for Montpellier is valued at 21/10 by William Hill while a draw is set at odds of 11/4 with betway.
Given Montpellier’s struggles at home, I am tempted to back Marseille for the win here.
Head to head
Marseille have a 20-10 advantage with 11 draws from 41 previous matches against Montpellier. They are also unbeaten in the last four meetings with the most recent fixture at the Stade de la Mosson ending 3-3.
Players to watch
Montpellier will once again be banking on the twin attacking threats of Gaetan Laborde and Andy Delort after both men combined for 31 goals last season. Paddy Power has Laborde at 11/4 to score anytime while Betfred is offering 21/10 on Delort in the same market.
Marseille also have attacking threats of their own with Arkadiusz Milik and Dario Benedetto. Milik was on target at the Stade de la Mosson last season and is priced at 29/20 to score anytime by Betfred, who are also offering 12/5 on Benedetto in the same market.
Anything else catch the eye?
There were over 5.5 goals the last time Montpellier faced Marseille and a similar outcome is priced at 10/1 by Skybet. Over 4.5 goals is valued at 5/1 by BetVictor, over 3.5 goals is set at odds of 23/12 by Vbet while MansionBet has over 2.5 goals at 4/5.
There have been goals for both teams in the last three meetings and a repeat is priced at 5/7 with Sport Nation. Marseille could also be backed to score in both halves at 11/5 with Sporting Index.
This French Ligue 1 match between Montpellier and Marseille will be played on Aug 8, 2021 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Montpellier vs Marseille prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
