Preview: Marseille vs Olympiacos - prediction, team news, lineups

Marseille will be looking to pick up an important victory when they welcome Olympiacos to the Velodrome on Thursday evening.

The hosts currently sit 32nd in the Europa League table, while the visitors are 13th.

Match preview

Marseille have struggled so far this season, with the French side suffering five consecutive defeats in all competitions before the recent international break.

That run of form included a 4-1 defeat away to Besiktas in their opening Europa League game, but Bruno Genesio's side picked up a crucial win when they returned to action on Sunday.

Marseille beat Troyes 2-0 at the Stade de l'Aube, with Amine Harit and Himad Abdelli finding the back of the net for the visitors.

Les Phoceens will be hoping the result marks a turning point in their season, with Marseille really needing a positive result to boost their hopes of reaching the knockouts.

This will be just the seventh meeting between these two sides and it is Marseille who have the historical edge with four wins, while Olympiacos have picked up two.

Olympiacos, meanwhile, are in much better form and head into Tuesday's clash on a run of three consecutive victories across all competitions.

Imanol Aglaucil's side beat Jagiellonia 2-1 in their Europa League opener before picking up a pair of 1-0 win in the Greek Super League over Levadiakos and Panathinaikos.

The Panithinaikos result was particularly impressive as it is a local derby and Olympiacos were reduced to 10 men in the second half when Manolis Saliakas was sent off.

Panagiotis Retsos scored the winning goal and Olympiacos will be full of confidence when they travel to France on Thursday.

Marseille Europa League form:

Marseille form (all competitions):

Olympiacos Europa League form:

Olympiacos form (all competitions):

Team News

Marseille are expected to be without the likes of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Derek Cornelius and Nouhoum Kamissoko through injury, but Geoffrey Kondogbia and Tochukwu Nnadi should be available after featuring off the bench against Troyes.

Timothy Weah will also be available, having missed the Troyes game through suspension, and he could replace Kelyann Bezahaf at right-back.

Harit and Igor Paixao are expected to start out wide, with Angel Gomes continuing in the No.10 role.

Olympiacos will be missing first-choice striker Ayoub El-Kaabi through injury and Roman Yaremchuk could get the nod to lead the line ahead of Marius Mounadilmadji.

Saliakas is likely to start at right-back as his red card against Panathinaikos only means he is suspended for domestic matches, while Remo Freuler and Gustavo Puerta are expected to continue their midfield partnership.

Marseille possible starting lineup:

De Lange; Weah, Egan-Riley, Aguerd, Emerson; Kondogbia, Abdelli; Harit, Gomes, Paixao; Gouiri

Olympiacos possible starting lineup:

Ortega; Saliakas, Retsos, Pirola, Tiknizyan; Freuler, Puerta; Silva, Chiquinho, Fortounis; Yaremchuk

We say: Marseille 1-2 Olympiacos

Although Marseille have home advantage and did end their losing run at the weekend, Olympiacos are in much better form and we are backing them to pick up all three points.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.