Having kicked off the Jorge Sampaoli era in perfect fashion on Wednesday night, Marseille gear up for another home clash against Brest in Ligue 1 on Saturday afternoon.
The hosts scraped a 1-0 victory over Rennes in their midweek battle, whereas Brest's last outing saw them exit the Coupe de France at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain.
Match preview
© Reuters
Andre Villas-Boas and Nasser Larguet had been unable to inspire Marseille for most of the campaign - with the latter overseeing a 2-1 Coupe de France defeat to fourth-tier side Canet Roussillon before Sampaoli's arrival - but the Olympiens faithful may be looking ahead to the remainder of the campaign with some cautious optimism after an ideal start to the Argentine's reign.
With the scores locked at 0-0 heading into the dying embers of Wednesday's game against Rennes, an inspired change from Sampaoli paid dividends as substitute Michael Cuisance and his 5ft 11in frame managed to out jump 6ft 2in Nayef Aguerd to head home in the 88th minute of the encounter, and Marseille - with their new three-at-the-back system - held on for the win and a clean sheet.
Sampaoli hinted after the game that a permanent stay for Bayern Munich loanee Cuisance could be on the cards, and the Frenchman will hope that Wednesday's winner marks the start of a positive relationship with his manager after he struggled to win Villas-Boas and Larguet over earlier in the season.
By propelling Marseille to victory in his first game in charge, Sampaoli has lifted Les Olympiens up to sixth in the table - two points adrift of Lens in the final European spot - and a campaign without continental football would be a huge disappointment for Marseille, so the former Argentina coach will be tasked with ensuring that such a scenario does not occur.
Furthermore, the hosts head into Saturday's game having taken seven points from the last nine on offer at home, and Lens' battle with seventh-placed Metz on Sunday could end up proving pivotal in the race for Europe, so Sampaoli will be desperate to kick off his reign with back-to-back victories as Marseille aim to climb into the European places - temporarily at least.
© Reuters
Brest became the latest victims of a Kylian Mbappe-inspired PSG last time out, as the 22-year-old's brace set the champions on their way to a routine 3-0 win over Les Pirates in Saturday's Coupe de France battle.
Pablo Sarabia also found the back of the net on the night as Olivier Dall'Oglio's men bowed out of the cup with a whimper, and that result came three days after Brest had returned to winning ways in convincing fashion with a 3-1 triumph over Dijon, so an immediate hit to their momentum would not have done the 13th-placed Pirates any favours whatsoever.
Any outside hopes of a European place have been dashed in recent weeks, and Brest must now simply focus on remaining in mid-table obscurity and increasing the nine-point gap currently separating them from the bottom three, but they travel to the Orange Velodrome boasting one of the worst away records in the league.
Only Lorient (8) have accumulated fewer points on the road this term than Brest (9), and Dall'Oglio's men are winless on unfamiliar territory since beating Metz 2-0 on November 29 - losing five and drawing three of their top-flight away matches since - and the visitors will need their attacking prowess to come to the fore if they are to have any chance of ending their barren away form at Marseille.
Brest's tally of 42 strikes at the correct end of the pitch is the most out of all the teams in the bottom half of the table, but they are one of just three sides in the top flight to have conceded at least 50 league goals this season - the other two being Lorient and Nimes - and Marseille have prevailed in the last four encounters between the two clubs.
- D
- W
- D
- D
- L
- W
- W
- D
- D
- L
- L
- W
- D
- W
- D
- L
- L
- W
- W
- D
- L
- L
- W
- L
Team News
© Reuters
Marseille midfielder Pape Gueye is suspended for this fixture, but Sampaoli did not even include the 22-year-old in the squad for his inaugural match in charge, while Cuisance will hope to start this game after his winner against Rennes.
Jordan Amavi continues to struggle with injuries - as he has done all season - but Yuto Nagatomo's spot on the left may be under threat regardless as Luis Henrique came off the bench to set up Cuisance's header in midweek.
With Saturday's game representing Marseille's last home outing before the international break, Sampaoli may be tempted to stick with the same XI from Wednesday's win, barring the potential inclusion of Cuisance.
Brest continue to make do without long-term absentee Denys Bain, while fellow defender Christophe Herelle is back on the training pitches but is unlikely to be passed fit for this encounter.
The visitors are also expected to be without joint-top scorer and assister Franck Honorat, who played no part in the cup defeat due to a groin problem and is a major doubt for Saturday.
Honorat boasts eight goals for the campaign - one more than Steve Mounie, who will be eyeing a recall - while Gautier Larsonneur, Romain Perraud, Brendan Chardonnet, Paul Lasne and Jean Lucas should all return to the first XI as well.
Marseille possible starting lineup:
Mandanda; Gonzalez, Balerdi, Caleta-Car; Kamara; Lirola, Cuisance, Thauvin, Nagatomo; Payet, Milik
Brest possible starting lineup:
Larsonneur; Faussurier, Chardonnet, Brassier, Perraud; Lasne, Belkebla, Lucas; Faivre, Mounie, Cardona
We say: Marseille 2-1 Brest
Marseille have had little time to recover from their hard-fought triumph over Rennes, but the Olympiens' confidence would have rocketed after such a positive start to Sampaoli's reign. Brest are not exactly a force to be reckoned with away from home, and the expected absence of Honorat is a huge blow to Dall'Oglio's side, so we expect Sampaoli to kick off life at the Orange Velodrome with back-to-back wins.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Marseille win with a probability of 52.02%. A draw had a probability of 25.1% and a win for Brest had a probability of 22.89%.
The most likely scoreline for a Marseille win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.32%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.82%) and 2-1 (9.49%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.9%), while for a Brest win it was 0-1 (7.47%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Marseille would win this match.
