Troyes vs Marseille

Stade de l’Aube is the venue as Troyes and Olympique Marseille go head-to-head in an intrugiung Ligue 1 contest.

Troyes stood no chance against Lille in last weekend’s Coupe de France action, suffering a comfortable 2-0 defeat on the road. On a more positive note, they kicked things off in 2023 with an enthralling 3-2 Ligue 1 victory at Strasbourg, ending an abysmal run of seven straight league matches without winning (D4, L3). They’re still in a precarious position, though, with only five points separating them from the relegation zone. The hosts have established themselves as ‘stalemate specialists’ this season as their last six home league outings have ended as a draw, though just one of them finished goalless. However, Marseille should watch out for Troyes’ quick-fire openings, with Patrick Kisnorbo’s side breaking the deadlock in five of their seven scoring home league games this season (71%).

Meanwhile, fresh from securing the services of highly-rated midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi from Atalanta, Marseille will be looking to extend their stellar four-match winning league streak and solidify their position in a keenly-contested Ligue 1 top-three race. Igor Tudor’s side made light work of lower-league outfit Hyeres 2-0 in the Coupe de France at the weekend, marking their third consecutive win on the road, all competitions included. ‘Les Olympiens’ must be filled with confidence ahead of the kick-off after losing just one of their last 11 Ligue 1 encounters against Troyes (W6, D4). Adding to this sentiment, they’ve suffered just three defeats across their 27 Ligue 1 outings (W16, D8), as many losses as they’ve had on their last 22 top-flight travels (W11, D8).