Two sides in contrasting form kick off the weekend's Ligue 1 action as struggling Nantes welcome high-flying Marseille to the Stade de la Beaujoire on Friday night.

Nantes find themselves in the bottom three after taking one point from a possible nine, while unbeaten Marseille occupy second place thanks to a run of two wins and a draw.

Match preview

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Nantes picked up their first point of the season as they played out an eventful 3-3 draw with Monaco last weekend, despite seeing just 34% of the ball while facing a barrage of 27 shots on home soil.

After racing into a 2-0 lead inside 15 minutes - courtesy of goals from Mostafa Mohamed and Jean-Charles Castelletto - the Canaries made it 3-1 early in the second half, but they ended up conceding twice to throw away the win.

La Maison Jaune started their campaign with a 2-1 defeat against Toulouse, once again taking the lead through Mohamed before conceding two goals in the second half.

On the second weekend of the season, Nantes suffered a 2-0 loss against Lille, managing 35% possession while conceding 18 shots at Stade Pierre-Mauroy, with Jonathan David and Adam Ounas grabbing the goals in the final 30 minutes of the match.

There is no denying that Pierre Aristouy's side have struggled in the latter stages of games this term, so they will need to keep their concentration until the final whistle if they are to end Marseille's unbeaten run.

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Marseille head into Friday's clash on the back of a 2-0 victory over Brest, with Chancel Mbemba and Ismaila Sarr finding the back of the net to extend their team's unbeaten start to the season.

Les Olympiens kicked off their campaign with a 2-1 win against Reims on the opening weekend, coming from behind to claim all three points thanks to goals from Azzedine Ounahi and Vitinha.

Despite racking up 22 shots while enjoying the lion's share of possession, Marseille were held to a 2-2 draw by newly-promoted Metz in their second match, with Vitinha scoring for the second game running to equalise in the 82nd minute.

Although Marseille suffered a heartbreaking penalty-shootout defeat to Panathinaikos in the third round of Champions League qualifying, Marcelino's men have not let that failure impact their league form.

Having taken seven points from a possible nine while scoring two goals in each of their three Ligue 1 matches so far, Marseille will be confident of maintaining their unbeaten streak when they come up against winless Nantes.

Team News

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Nantes will be without injured pair Fabien Centonze and Nathan Zeze for the foreseeable future, while goalkeeper Alban Lafont remains sidelined with a broken rib.

As a result, Remy Descamps will continue to deputise between the sticks, while Ronael Pierre-Gabriel, Nicolas Pallois and Jean-Charles Castelletto will likely make up the backline in a 3-4-2-1 formation.

At the opposite end of the pitch, Mostafa Mohamed will lead the line after scoring three goals in three appearances this term, with Moses Simon and Kader Bamba operating behind the striker.

Marseille, on the other hand, look set to be without Pedro Ruiz and Geoffrey Kondogbia on Friday, with the latter recently signing from Atletico Madrid before picking up an injury.

Marcelino is expected to stick with a 4-4-2 formation, meaning that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Iliman Ndiaye will start in attack, while new signing Renan Lodi will continue at left-back.

Nantes possible starting lineup:
Deschamps; Pierre-Gabriel, Pallois, Castelletto; Coco, Chirivella, Augusto, Merlin; Simon, Bamba; Mohamed

Marseille possible starting lineup:
Lopez; Clauss, Gigot, Mbemba, Lodi; Sarr, Rongir, Veretout, Harit; Aubameyang, Ndiaye

We say: Nantes 1-2 Marseille

Given that Marseille already lead Nantes by six points, we expect the visitors to secure a third victory in four league matches on Friday, although the hosts will likely make life difficult for OM.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Ben Morris

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