Marseille-Nantes Statistical Preview

Probable Lineups

Team News

Marseille

• Marseille find themselves at a critical juncture in their season. After losing to Lille in midweek, they must rebound quickly against Nantes to keep pace in the Champions League race.
• Andre Ayew is sidelined for two months due to a knee ligament rupture. Mathieu Valbuena has dislocated his shoulder and will also miss this fixture.
• Elie Baup could rotate his side because of the condensed fixture list.

Nantes

• Nantes scraped a victory at the Stade de la Beaujoire against a struggling Valenciennes side. They come to the Velodrome with tired legs, hoping to salvage whatever possible.
• Gabriel Cichero pulled his quadricep in training and will miss the welcome of Valenciennes, while Fabrice Pancrate also misses out for Nantes.

Match Facts

• Marseille have seen under 2.5 goals in their last 3 matches against Nantes in all competitions.
• Marseille have scored at least 2 goals in their last 3 home matches in Ligue 1.

Prediction

• With both André Ayew and Mathieu Valbuena out, Marseille will rely on Andre-Pierre Gignac to fashion goalscoring opportunities. Elie Baup is expected to use him as a target man in a standard 4-3-3, with Lemina, Imbula and Romao occupying the midfield positions.
• Nantes will set up to absorb Marseille pressure and exploit their pace on the flanks to counter quickly with the likes of Bessat, Bedoya, or even Gakpe.
• Filip Djordjevic and Andre-Pierre Gignac, who are on 6 and 8 goals respectively, have not scored in their last 3 matches. Whichever striker finds form on Friday night could propel his team to victory.

Marseille 2 - 1 Nantes