Marseille head to the Allianz Riviera Stadium on Friday night knowing that a win would propel them, at least temporarily, to the top of the Ligue 1 table ahead of the rest of this weekend’s fixtures.
Indeed, Roberto De Zerbi’s side are preparing to take on Nice in their first game after the November international break. They are currently in second place in the table, just two points behind leaders PSG.
Meanwhile, Nice are stranded in mid-table in ninth spot, but are only three points off of the European places. However, a run of three straight defeats in all competitions threatens to derail them from taking a positive result here.
The hosts did win this corresponding fixture 2-0 last season though, and have lost just once in the previous five H2Hs in total. However, Marseille have shown to be a tough nut to crack so far this season, and so this promises to be an intriguing encounter.
How the bookies view it: Marseille mooted as favourites
BoyleSports have installed Marseille as the 5/6 odds-on favourites for this one. A draw can still be backed at 13/5 odds, while Nice have been given 12/5 odds to upset the apple cart.
Recent head-to-head: Nice not so nice on home soil
As mentioned previously, Nice won this corresponding fixture 2-0 last season. Evan Guessand was particularly influential with a goal and an assist, but he has since moved on to Premier League side Aston Villa.
Players to watch: Greenwood chasing Golden Boot
Mohamed-Ali Cho was the other goalscorer in that January clash, and we are expecting him to start for Nice.
Mason Greenwood scored his eighth league goal this season in Marseille’s 3-0 win at home to Brest last time out. He is only one behind Strasbourg’s Joaquin Panichelli in the race for the Golden Boot, and can be backed to score anytime at 11/8 odds with BoyleSports.
Predicted lineups
Youssouf Ndayishimiye, Mohamed Abdelmonem, Dante and Moise Bombito are all expected to miss out for Nice with injury.
Ulisses Garcia is available after suspension for Marseille, but Ruben Blanco, Bilal Nadir, Amine Gouiri, Nayef Aguerd and Hamed Traore are all injured.
Nice: Diouf; Mendy, Bah, Oppong; Clauss, Boudaoui, Sanson, Abdi; Diop; Boga, Cho.
Marseille: Rulli; Pavard, Egan-Riley, Palmieri; Lirola, Hojbjerg, O’Riley, Garcia; Gomes, Greenwood; Aubameyang.
Anything else catch the eye?
Three of the previous four league H2Hs in total have not seen Both Teams To Score (BTTS) come through, so we feel inclined to back against this particular betting market again. BoyleSports are offering relatively healthy 13/10 odds to go against the market, which we feel comfortable backing.
Our previous two betting tips suggest that we think that Marseille could win this game to nil, but given Nice’s recent impressive H2H record, and the fact that they have home advantage, we are not expecting the visitors to completely wipe the floor with them. In this vein, we feel that backing Under 2.5 total goals is reasonable, which BoyleSports are currently offering 23/20 odds for at the time of writing.
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