Saint-Etienne vs Marseille

Relegation-battling Saint-Etienne and current Ligue 1 runners-up Olympique Marseille will trade tackles at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in a mouth-watering showdown.

New manager Pascal Dupraz has sparked a mini-revival at Saint-Etienne, guiding his men to seven unbeaten games across their last eight Ligue 1 outings (W4, D3) to drag them out of the bottom two. St Etienne’s only reverse in that eight-game sequence came at the hands of table-topping PSG, yet ‘Les Verts’ are about to encounter an equally stern test in the shape of second-placed Marseille. The hosts can take some comfort in winning two of their last three top-flight H2Hs on home soil (L1), as many victories as they had in their previous 12 such fixtures (D7, L3). Furthermore, since going down to Lens in mid-January, St Etienne have alternated between victories (2) and draws (2) across their last four home league matches, their longest such streak this Ligue 1 season.

As for Marseille, a hard-fought 2-1 home win over Nice last time out maintained their upturn in form following a 4-1 thumping over Brest in their most recent league travel. Jorge Sampaoli’s men have been nothing short of impressive on hostile turf this season, accruing in a league-high 30 points from their 14 top-flight away games to date (W9, D3, L2). Another success at St Etienne would see Marseille rack up a three-game winning streak in Ligue 1 for only the second time this season, last making that feat in August/September 2021. But whether it’s Sampaoli’s squad rotation or Marseille’s ambition to conquer the Europa Conference League this term, yet ‘Les Olympiens’ have suffered three defeats in their last five Ligue 1 matches preceding a fixture in European football (W2).