Olympique Marseille vs Montpellier Prediction: Jean-Louis Gasset’s appointment will bring instant reward.

Everything seems to be going wrong for Olympique Marseille at the moment. They are regarded as a top 3 club in the Ligue 1 atleast, but at the moment they are struggling for their lives at midtable and for Olympique Marseille, failing to qualify for any of the European Competition will be a disaster. Montpellier are also struggling to maintain stable form in the Ligue 1 and they are in dire need of a turnaround in order to finish at the top end of the table. 

Olympique Marseille are back from the Europa League Knockout round where they safely secured a place in the Quarter Final. They are back to face their worst fears, which is the unending poor results in Ligue 1. A win against Montpellier here is not just necessary but a must for this team.

Olympique Marseille

Despite securing a spot in the Quarterfinal of the UEFA Europa League, Olympique Marseille are still far from their mark in the Ligue 1 and they need an intervention as soon as possible or they might end up outside the top 6. 

The last 6 league games had been horrible for Marseille and as a result they have had 2 defeats and 4 draws and no win in the course of those 6 games. Last weekend they lost to Stade Brest by a single goal. Pierre Lees Melou scored the only goal for Stade Brest in the 88th minute with little time left for Marseille to respond. They were unimpressive in general according to the statistics as they managed 58% possession, 4 shots on target and 4 corner kicks throughout the game.

Olympique Marseille appointed a new manager a few days ago after dismissing Gennaro Gattuso following the team's abysmal run of results. 

Jean-Louis Gasset is the new manager in the helm of affairs and there's a lot of expectations on him to turn their fortunes around. His first game as manager was the UEFA Europa League match against Shakhtar Donetsk and they won by 3:1. Jean-Louis favors a 3-4-1-2 formation and we might see him field the same formation in this game against Montpellier.

Montpellier

Montpellier had a temporary relief after beating Metz FC last weekend. Now the tougher challenge is ahead of them and once again the thought of reverting to their poor results looms. Montpellier managed just 1 win in their last 5 matches in all competitions. They are currently out of the Coup de France and are not involved in any European Competition. 

Montpellier had undergone several tactical changes in the course of a few weeks in order to remedy their poor form but it looks like they might hang onto the 3-1-4-2 system as they did against Metz FC last weekend. Issiaga Sylla gave Montpellier an early lead in the game and Modibo Sagnan doubled the lead in the 50th minute before Teji Savanier’s third goal from the spot in the 86th minute. Montpellier were also brilliant according to the statistics, as they managed 54% possession, 7 shots on target and 7 corner kicks. 

Montpellier faces Olympique Marseille at the Orange Vélodrome and they have not beaten Marseille on that ground in a longtime. While playing on the front foot has its benefits, there's enough reason to expect a defensive and more compact setup from Montpellier in this clash. However Michel Der Zakarian choses to set his team up, he will definitely need his defense to play a key role in this game.

Head to Head

According to the h2h, in the last 20 meetings between Olympique Marseille and Montpellier, Olympique Marseille won 9 matches while Montpellier won 4 and 7 matches ended in a draw.

Analysis and Predictions

Olympique Marseille’s new setup is expected to produce instant reward or atleast against lower teams such as Toulouse. Toulouse on the other hand are catching a break but I don't see them sustaining the temporary form. 

According to the h2h, Olympique Marseille have not lost their last 10 meetings and they are without a clean sheet in the last 3. Toulouse are also without a clean sheet in the last 10 and there's been less than 2.5 goals scored in 4 of their last 5 meetings. Both teams scored in 8 of their last 9 meetings and there's been less than 4.5 cards shown in their last 6 meetings.

• Olympique Marseille to Win at 1.758 Odds
• Olympique Marseille to Win at 1.696 Odds
• Olympique Marseille to Win at 1.72 Odds