Having missed a great opportunity to enjoy a winning start at Bastia, Marseille will be aiming to return to the right track when they host Montpellier at Stade Velodrome. La Paillade could be in for a difficult afternoon, especially after losing at home to Bordeaux in the curtain-raiser last weekend.

Team slowly taking shape

The record of just one top 5 finish in last three league campaigns has got to be considered a very poor result for one of France’s top clubs, but the arrival of master tactician Marcelo Bielsa is seen by many as the turning point. OM have so far seen only Mathieu Valbuena and Jordan Ayew leave the club, while signing Romain Alessandrini, Michy Batshuayi and Abdelaziz Barrada. Some very good results as well as performances in pre-season are enough to suggest the players have adapted well to Bielsa’s 4-3-3 formation, and no doubt things will only get better as the time progresses. Even without a number of first team regulars, Marseille came very close to winning in Bastia, but they eventually squandered a two-goal lead and had to settle for one point. Home game against Montpellier will feel like a perfect chance to make amends and OM appear to have more than enough quality to win this game. The new boss has yet to find the right balance between attack and defence but his impressive front line is widely expected to secure three points on Sunday afternoon.

Alaixys Romao is back from suspension, leaving Mario Lemina (ankle) as the only unavailable player at the moment.

Another difficult season on the cards?

Montpellier shocked the entire nation by winning the Ligue 1 trophy in 2012, but that proved to be a one-off result as la Paillade have largely struggled ever since. The club have been selling their key players year after year without signing proper replacements and they now find themselves in a situation to fear for Ligue 1 survival. Rolland Courbis’ side finished the previous league campaign mere two points above the relegation positions and everything suggests they are in for another survival fight. Star midfielder Remy Cabella has left the club, and Benjamin Stambouli is expected to follow, whereas the arrivals of out-of-sorts Lucas Barrios and Kevin Berigaud haven’t made the squad all that stronger. As expected, Montpellier had a poor start to the season, losing at home to Bordeaux, so chances are they will face an even more difficult task away against Marseille. The visitors still have several unavailable players and this is likely to further damage their chances of avoiding defeat at Stade Velodrome.

Montpellier could experience problems up front seeing as how Djamel Bakar, Karim Ait-Fana, Joris Marveaux and Jean Deza are all sidelined through injury.

Verdict

Marseille are still far from the desired form, but they are slowly getting there, and another performance like that against Bastia should prove enough to see off struggling Montpellier. La Paillade have become genuine relegation strugglers and with some important players missing, I cannot see them getting anything from this match.

Top pick: Home win   1.62 (5/8) @ William Hill

Alternative pick 1: Marseille/Marseille   2.60 (8/5) @ Ladbrokes

Alternative pick 2: Gignac to score   2.05 (21/20) @ bet365