Montpellier vs Marseille

Montpellier will play host to Marseille at the Stade de la Mosson as the 2021/22 Ligue 1 season gets underway this weekend.

Despite finishing eighth, only two four points adrift of the Europa Conference League promotion spot, Montpellier lamented a negative -2 goal difference last term. New manager Olivier Dall’Oglio will be entrusted with helping the team increase a disappointing Ligue 1 win rate of 36.84% in 2020/21, even though it still exceeds his percentages over his previous two engagements. Marseille’s arrival to the Stade de la Mosson comes in handy, considering ‘La Paillade‘ are undefeated in their last four home Ligue 1 H2Hs (W2, D2), netting an average of 2.5 goals across those meetings. However, the hosts have ended up on the losing side in their last three Ligue 1 openers, succumbing to a narrow one-goal margin on each occasion. Another noteworthy takeaway from Montpellier’s 2020/21 season is that no team scored more headed goals than ‘La Paillade‘ (18) last term.

On the other hand, a return of five wins from seven warm-up matches (D2) encouraged by some high-profile signings suggests Marseille are looking to improve on last season’s fifth-place finish. Beating Montpellier here would show early intent, and the fact they haven’t lost any of their ten away Ligue 1 openers in the 21st century (W5, D5) encourages that bid. But if football does follow the scrip, we could be in for a draw, considering both of the previous Ligue 1 curtain-raiser showdowns between these two teams yielded the same 1-1 scoreline. Moreover, ‘Les Phocéens‘ have failed to keep a clean sheet in each of their last seven Ligue 1 games and are only two away from reaching an unwanted record under Rudi Garcia’s reign in 2019.