After a two-week hiatus, the French Ligue 1 returns this weekend with second-placed Marseille taking on Montpellier at the Stade Vélodrome on Friday.
Marseille were building momentum before the international break with a run of three games without defeat (W2, D1), including wins over top-four hopefuls Reims and Rennes.
The hosts are the closest challengers of perennial winners Paris Saint-Germain, having secured 18 wins this season (D5, L5), with their points tally just seven behind Lionel Messi’s side. A win here would close the gap on leaders PSG to four points as the season nears its climax.
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They will fancy their chances of getting a result here after ending Reims’ remarkable unbeaten run with a 2-1 win last time. But if they’re to manage that and apply some pressure on PSG, they’ll also have to end their four-match winless run in home league action (D2, L2), including most recently squandering a 2-0 lead at the 85th-minute mark to draw 2-2 with Strasbourg.
But considering that Les Olympiens haven’t conceded more than once in a home H2H since December 2015 (W6, D3), they’ll expect to hold firm if they find themselves in a similar position again.
Meanwhile, Montpellier come into this tie in formidable form as they are unbeaten in six league fixtures (W5, D1). Like Marseille, the visitors were building steam just before the international break. As a result, they were able to push themselves away from the relegation zone into the eleventh position, thanks to three straight league wins.
The goal will now be for them to kick on from there and crack the top six places. However, they sit 13 points behind Lille in sixth position, with ten games to play. The possibility of a top-six finish looks slim unless they can continue to win and pick up their fourth consecutive win in this game.
But given that they’ve only beaten one side currently sitting in the top half this term (D2, L9), it will be a significant result if they win here. However, that sole win did come away from home (2-0 v Lorient), and having secured four wins ‘to nil’ across their last six Ligue 1 road fixtures (L2), Montpellier will hope they can resume their campaign in a similar vein of form.
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