Olympique Lyon vs Olympique Marseille Prediction: It's down to Mentality

Olympique Lyon eye a redemption campaign in the second half of the season, after such a horrible few months since the beginning of the season. They are languishing in 16th place and the fight for survival is on for the Lyon team. Lyon faces Marseille in an epic rival clash and a win is much needed to put them back on the right track.

Olympique Marseille will also be gunning for a win in this game. Beyond doubt, their ultimate objective would be to qualify for European football and at the moment, they are just outside the zone. With life at the top end getting tougher, every point counts for Marseille, if they intend to achieve their goals.

In this game, Olympique Lyon and Olympique Marseille will go to battle for different reasons but with one objective in mind, and that is to win.

Olympique Lyon

Olympique Lyon’s worst nightmares appear to still be ahead of them as they begin the second round of games in defeat. Their campaign through the first half of the season was nothing short of a disappointment and one would normally hope that things get better. But at the moment, they have lost back-to-back league games against Le Havre and Stade Rennes. 

Against Stade Rennes last weekend, Lyon lost 3-2 at home. Rennes did the business in the first half after Martin Terrier scored a brace and Desire Doue scored one goal to give them a 3 goal lead in the first half. And in the second half, Henrique and Alexandre Lacazette got 2 goals but they couldn't find a third and they eventually lost the game. However, Lyon had better numbers in terms of statistics. They controlled 63% possession, while they had 6 shots on target and 3 corner kicks.

As a result, Lyon remains in 16th position, with 16 points in 19 matches. They have managed 4 wins, 4 draws and 11 defeats so far this season.

Olympique Marseille

Olympique Marseille come into the game as favorites for obvious reasons. They have had a good run in their recent visits to the Groupama Stadium and they are looking confident ahead of this fixture. 

On the basis of current form, Olympique Marseille can't be too excited after failing to win any of their last 3 matches in a row. They also played a draw in their last 3 league games against Montpellier, Strasbourg and AS Monaco, which means they dropped 6 points which can be quite expensive for their current position on the table.

Marseille were left disappointed with the 2-2 draw against AS Monaco last weekend. AS Monaco were down to 10 men as Guillermo Maripan was sent off 4 minutes after Wissam Ben Yedder’s opening goal for Monaco. Marseille got the equalizer through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the 38th minute, but lost the lead with Maghnes Akliouche putting Monaco ahead once again on the brink of half time. And then in the 50th minute, Leonard Balerdi drew Marseille level and they fought to go ahead but to no avail. 

The draw leaves Olympique Marseille in 7th place with 29 points in 19 matches. So far, they have 7 wins, 8 draws and 4 defeats this season.

Head to Head

In their 20 meetings, Olympique Lyon won 9 matches, while Marseille won 5 matches and 6 matches ended in a draw.

Analysis and Predictions

In their recent meetings, analysis shows: Marseille won the last 3 meetings against Lyon and Lyon are without a clean sheet in the last 3 meetings. 4 of their last 5 meetings ended with more than 2.5 goals and Marseille was first to score in those 4 games. Marseille also won the first half in those 4 matches. Their last 5 meetings also ended with less than 4.4 cards and 5 of their last 6 meetings ended with less than 10.5 corners.

• More than 2.5 Goals at 1.97 Odds
• More than 2.5 Goals at 1.904 Odds
• More than 2.5 Goals at 1.970 Odds