Marseille-Nantes Statistical Preview

Probable Lineups

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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