Marseille v Monaco
15:00
Marseille went on an excellent run prior to the winter break as they won four on the bounce to shoot up the table from 12th to 6th. That’s nonetheless four places and 12 points off Monaco, who had an excellent first half of the season and have won six of their last eight in the league, and also topped their Champions League group.
Marseille have been excellent at the Stade Velodrome, winning six of nine unbeaten games whilst remarkably conceding just one goal. However, they’ve hosted only one team currently in the top eight, drawing 0-0 against Lyon. Having said that, despite their struggles last season they still managed draws against Lyon, Monaco, Lille and St Etienne of the top six, and since they’ve lost just two of their last 21 at home, we expect them to be a tough nut to crack for Monaco.
Leonardo Jardim’s side have won only three of their last seven on the road, and two of those victories came over bottom-three teams Lorient and Metz. Indeed, they’ve won just two of their 11 trips to top-nine sides since the start of last season (W2-D4-L4) and that, together with Marseille’s strong draw trend when hosting the top teams means that we’re backing the stalemate here, with the visitors looking on the short side at 2.4.
