After the abandonment of their most recent Ligue 1 meeting with Lyon, Marseille will return to domestic action on Sunday, as Troyes arrive at the Stade Velodrome.
Prior to the dramatic events last weekend, Jorge Sampaoli's side had gone five games without a defeat to climb to fifth spot in the Ligue 1 table, while their visitors are struggling in the bottom five.
Match preview
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In the latest episode of crowd troubles in the French top flight, Marseille's clash with Lyon last weekend was brought to an abrupt end, when midfielder Dimitri Payet was the target of a water bottle thrown from the stands after just four minutes, causing the match to be abandoned.
Prior to that, Les Olympiens had built a five-game unbeaten run in the league, although a failure to beat Metz most recently will have been more disappointing than commendable draws with Paris Saint-Germain and Nice.
Following the clash with Lyon, Sampaoli's side took on Galatasaray in the fifth round of Europa League group fixtures on Thursday, and a second-half Arkadiusz Milik brace was not enough to salvage a result as they fell to a 4-2 defeat, confirming their exit from Europe's secondary competition.
Now fully turning their attention back to the league, Les Olympiens will hope to put last weekend behind them and push for a spot in the top four with what would be their seventh league win of the campaign on Sunday.
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Their visitors arrive looking to bounce back from consecutive defeats, having quickly dropped down the table.
A surprise victory over high-flying Nice, with Mama Balde netting the only goal, and a hard-fought 2-1 win over Reims consecutively took the newly-promoted side's points tally to 12 from 11 games after their promotion from the second tier.
They then earned another commendable point with a 2-2 draw against third-placed Rennes but have now lost consecutive games heading into Sunday, firstly falling to a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Lens.
Laurent Batlles's men then met fellow strugglers Saint-Etienne, and a Miguel Trauco goal in the second half proved to be the difference, condemning ESTAC to their seventh league defeat of the campaign.
Now sitting level on points with Clermont in the relegation playoff place and just a single point above the automatic drop zone, Troyes will be desperate to correct their form and remain ahead of the bottom three.
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Team News
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Marseille should have a full squad to pick from, following the returns of Leonardo Balerdi and Cengiz Under from a suspension and an injury respectively.
Dimitri Payet, who was hit by the projectile against Lyon, was suspended for the recent Europa League game, but he will return to play a key role at the weekend.
He will support Poland international Arkadiusz Milik, who hit a brace in that eventual defeat to Galatasaray.
Troyes are without Mama Balde through injury, while Karim Azamoum is a major doubt and may not be risked.
Balde is a big loss in the front line, and Yoann Touzghar will be relied upon to deliver goals in his absence.
Adil Rami, who boasts 36 caps for the French national team, is an experienced head in defence, and he will continue to play an important role in a back three.
Marseille possible starting lineup:
Lopez; Lirola, Saliba, Caleta-Car, Peres Petroni; Gueye, Kamara, Guendouzi; Gerson, Payet; Milik
Troyes possible starting lineup:
Gallon; Rami, Giraudon, Salmier; Kabore, Kouame, Chavalerin, Biancone; Ripart, Touzhar, Rodrigues
We say: Marseille 2-1 Troyes
Marseille will be wounded from a heavy defeat in midweek, but they should still have enough quality to get over the line on Sunday.
Back-to-back defeats will leave the visitors lacking confidence, and Sampaoli should certainly see this as a good opportunity to add another notch to their wins column after a disappointing draw in their most recent league outing.
Sam Varley
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Marseille win with a probability of 58.38%. A draw had a probability of 22.6% and a win for Troyes had a probability of 19.07%.
The most likely scoreline for a Marseille win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.29%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.4%) and 2-1 (9.88%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.71%), while for a Troyes win it was 0-1 (5.81%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with an 11.3% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Marseille in this match and our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted the win for Marseille.
