Already on the coat-tails of Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain, Marseille return from the international break with an intriguing showdown against Mediterranean foes Nice at the Orange Velodrome on Saturday.
Les Olympiens have accrued seven points from their opening nine on offer this term, while the third time was the charm for Les Aiglons in a 4-1 crushing of Angers before the international break.
Match preview
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Replicating the exciting style of play that Brighton & Hove Albion fans witnessed during his brief Premier League tenure, Roberto De Zerbi's Marseille have been on the goalscoring warpath so far this season and reached double figures for the season at Toulouse's Stadium Municipal two weekends ago.
Mason Greenwood's fourth and fifth goals of the new campaign put Marseille in cruise control before Charlie Cresswell's own goal put the result beyond any immeasurable doubt; Shavy Babicka did wipe out Marseille's clean sheet, but that was trivial.
While three other sides - Monaco, Nantes and Lens - also have seven points on their 2024-25 report card, Marseille's superior goal difference means that they are currently the closest challengers to perfect PSG; a familiar tale from seasons gone by.
Les Olympiens' offensive play under De Zerbi has been a sight to behold so far, but Marseille's defensive exploits still leave something to be desired; they are yet to keep a clean sheet this season and conceded twice to Reims in their opening home match of the new term.
Failure to shut out their first Orange Velodrome visitors of the season means that Marseille have now gone five home games without a shut-out in the French top flight, albeit while also scoring multiple goals in each of their last four in front of their own fans.
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Going one better than their hosts on the road in gameweek three, Nice subjected Angers to a rude Ligue 1 awakening with a 4-1 demolition of the newly-promoted side at the Stade Raymond Kopa, taking just 25 minutes to net twice through Youssouf Ndayishimiye and Hicham Boudaoui.
Himad Abdelli's second-half penalty gave Angers a sliver of hope, which was quickly extinguished thanks to an Evann Guessand double in the dying embers, as Franck Haise belatedly earned his first triumph in the Aiglons hotseat.
For all of his exceptional work in the Lens chair, Haise oversaw a dismal start to proceedings in 2024-25 - a 2-1 loss to Auxerre and 1-1 home draw with Toulouse - but victory on September 1 propelled Nice into the top half of the 18-team table in eighth spot.
On their longest Ligue 1 scoring streak since the behind-closed-doors era of 2021, Les Aiglons are out to make the net bulge for the 10th match running in the French top flight, and they have only failed to register in one of their last 10 games with Marseille.
Les Aiglons have also had their hosts' number over the past 18 months, taking four points off of Marseille in the 2023-24 season with a 1-0 home success and 2-2 draw at the Velodrome, where they also surged to a 3-1 triumph under Didier Digard in February 2023.
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Team News
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The Marseille medical team are still taking care of the injured Leonardo Balerdi (thigh), Faris Moumbagna (knee), Ruben Blanco (knee) and Ismael Kone (unspecified), none of whom should be back for another couple of weeks at least.
However, no fresh concerns arose in the beating of Toulouse two weeks ago, where both of Greenwood's goals were set up by Luis Henrique, the 22-year-old Brazilian finally hoping to come good in an Olympiens shirt.
Henrique keeping his place on the left means that Jonathan Rowe will have to accept another cameo off the bench, while Elye Wahi should also keep Neal Maupay at bay up front.
As for their visitors, Canadian centre-back Moise Bombito was made to take the walk of shame for two bookable offences in the win over Angers and is therefore suspended for Saturday, where he will be one of two fresh concerns for the visitors to work around alongside Boudaoui.
The Algerian midfielder - named Nice's player of the month for August - sustained a knee concern in Les Aiglons' most recent fixture and faces a couple of weeks on the sidelines, so Pablo Rosario should be introduced alongside Tanguy Ndombele in Marseille.
Gaetan Laborde (foot), Morgan Sanson (ankle), Tom Louchet (thigh), Terem Moffi (ACL) and Sofiane Diop (foot) are also taking up beds in a well-occupied Nice infirmary.
Marseille possible starting lineup:
Rulli; Murillo, Cornelius, Brassier, Merlin; Kondogbia, Hojbjerg; Greenwood, Harit, Henrique; Wahi
Nice possible starting lineup:
Bulka; Mendy, Ndayishimiye, Dante; Clauss, Rosario, Ndombele, Bard; Cho, Guessand, Boga
We say: Marseille 2-2 Nice
Whether the two-week hiatus has harmed Marseille and Nice's penchant for high-scoring affairs remains to be seen, but with the offensive talent on both sides' disposal, that should not be the case.
A four-goal stalemate was the result when the two sides locked horns in this exact fixture last season, and an identical result here is not beyond the realm of possibility.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
