Auxerrevs.Marseille

This fixture will pit one of Ligue 1 strongest home sides against one of the best away sides, with Auxerre's form on home soil the only thing keeping them out of relegation trouble at present.

Match preview

With 20 points won at home compared to just five away, no team has a bigger disparity than Auxerre in Ligue 1 this season, while Marseille are one of the few clubs to have won more points on the road.

Rather meagre home form has seen OM take just 19 points at the Velodrome, compared to 27 away from home - tied with Paris Saint-Germain for the highest in the division.

Home form was not an issue last weekend for Marseille though, as they thrashed Saint-Etienne 5-1 at the Velodrome to seal a third straight league win.

That saw Roberto De Zerbi's men hit the half-century for league goals this season, making it their most productive attacking campaign so far since 1970-71, when they also scored 50 goals in their first 22 games.

Marseille are just the fourth club in the 21st century to hit that milestone so early in a Ligue 1 season, and it has helped them build a six-point gap to Nice and Monaco below them.

De Zerbi may have already accepted they will not catch PSG, who are 10 points clear at the top, but in his first season in charge, securing automatic Champions League qualification would be a big accomplishment.

Marseille have only lost one of their last 11 games, taking 26 points in that time, and with no cup or European distractions, they can simply focus on maintaining their spot in second.

The visitors will be out to exact revenge on Auxerre though, after they won 3-1 at the Velodrome back in November, which remains their only away win of the season so far.

That leaves Christophe Pelissier with the opportunity to become just the second AJA manager to complete a league double over Marseille, after the legendary Guy Roux, who oversaw that in the 1987-88 season.

Auxerre will need to arrest a current 10-game winless run if they are to succeed in that objective though, in what has become their worst streak of results for 13 years.

Many of the matches in that run have ended in draws though, because Auxerre are still unbeaten in nine at home, but they have drawn all of the last five here, and they have only drawn in six in a row once before in their history, back in 2010.

Pelissier's men drew last weekend on the road too, dropping two points away at Brest, throwing the lead away twice in an entertaining four-goal thriller.

There is still a comfortable gap between newly-promoted Auxerre in 12th and the relegation zone, but they are now a fair distance away from the European places, after threatening to break into them earlier this season.

Auxerre Ligue 1 form:

D

L

D

L

D

D

Marseille Ligue 1 form:

W

D

L

W

W

W

Marseille form (all competitions):

L

D

L

W

W

W

Team News

Paul Joly is back from suspension for Auxerre, but there are doubts over the fitness of Ki-Jana Hoever, who went off in the final few minutes of their draw with Brest last weekend.

Nathan Buayi-Kiala and Lasso Coulibaly are out for the long term with ACL injuries, while Sinaly Diomande is also expected to miss out again with an unspecified issue for the hosts.

The man Marseille will have to watch out for is Gaetan Perrin, who is in excellent form with 13 goals involvements in Ligue 1 this season, and he scored both goals at Brest last weekend, a week after registering two assists in the 2-2 draw with Toulouse.

Marseille will be without Leonardo Balerdi due to suspension for this clash, while Amine Harit is still building up his fitness after a spell on the sidelines with a calf injury.

Amine Gouiri has continued his incredible start to life at the club, contributing to a goal on average every 36 minutes since mid-January, and his five goal involvements in three matches since moving to Marseille is the same amount he managed in 19 games for Rennes.

Experienced midfielder Adrien Rabiot is also in red-hot form, having scored in three successive matches, while there was a happy home debut for Amar Dedic, who provided an assist in the 5-1 thrashing of Saint-Etienne.

Auxerre possible starting lineup:

Leon; Osho, Jubal, Akpa, Mensah; Perrin, Massengo, Owusu; Traore, Bair, Sinayoko

Marseille possible starting lineup:

Rulli; Murillo, Kondogbia, Cornelius; Luis Henrique, Bennacer, Hojbjerg, Rabiot, Merlin; Greenwood, Gouiri

We say: Auxerre 1-3 Marseille

Marseille have swept aside most challengers in recent months, moving clear in second place as they look on course to return to the Champions League, and they will be favourites against an Auxerre side that are winless in 10.

Written by

Andrew Delaney

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