French Ligue 1 campaign resumed with the clash between 10th-placed Montpellier and surprise leaders Marseille, who aim to put extra pressure on their title rivals.

La Paillade have been on a major downtrend ever since they won the league title back in 2012, and this season cannot really be considered a success.

Montpellier occupy the 10th position in the league standings midway through the campaign, and they have shown some improvement ahead of the winter break.

Following the 4-0 triumph over Rennes, Rolland Courbis’ charges shared spoils with Lens and PSG in the league, but the New Year did not have the best of starts.

Montpellier suffered a 3-0 home loss to Paris Saint-Germain in Coupe de France, and will have to show a considerable improvement if they are to stop high-flying Marseille in their tracks.

Siaka Tiene and Karim Ait-Fana continue to miss out through injury, but there are no fresh worries for boss Roland Courbis.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Ligali – Dabo, Hilton, El Kaoutari, Congre – Saihi, Marveaux – Sanson, Martin, Mounier – Barrios.

Despite team’s impressive start to the season, many believed Marseille would not be able to mount a serious title challenge this term.

Nevertheless, OM have continued to impress and midway through the season they sit two points clear at the Ligue 1 summit.

While they did well to see off Lille in the final game in 2014, Marseille had a poor start to the new year, having been eliminated from Coupe de France by Grenoble.

Nevertheless, league campaign obviously remains the priority and OM look a good bet at 2.20 (6/5) to claim maximum points at Altrad Stadium.

Marcelo Bielsa will be without key players Nicolas N’Koulou and Andre Ayew over the next few weeks as they take part at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, but Mario Lemina and Brice Dja Djedje are available as they refused invitations from respective national teams.

Romain Alessandrini and Abdelaziz Barrada are out injured, while Steve Mandanda will be recalled to the starting line-up.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Mandanda – Dja Djedje, Fanni, Morel, Mendy – Lemina, Imbula – Thauvin, Payet, Batshuayi – Gignac.