Ligue 1: Marseille v Lille Match Preview

What: French Ligue 1
Who: Marseille v Lille
When: Sunday 25th November, 2012, at 20:00 UK Time
Where: Stade Velodrome, Marseille, France

Barton To The Rescue?

Marseille’s superb start to the season has well and truly fizzled out and the former league leaders have slipped to fourth. A run of one win in nine in all competitions and five points out of 18 in the league have given coach Elie Baup a reality check after his start to life in the managerial hot-seat. Their current form is worryingly reminiscent of last season’s problems, and like last year, Marseille are desperately short of firepower. Andre-Pierre Gignac is still out injured, Loic Remy has joined him on the sidelines and Andre Ayew has been forced to play in the slightly unfamiliar role of centre forward.

In fact, so desperate have Marseille been for a centre forward that they turned to a 27-year-old delivery driver to help out last weekend against Bordeaux. Fabrice Apruzesse is signed to Marseille on an amateur contract, but sporting director Jose Anigo brought him into the first team squad to help with the current crisis and he made his Ligue 1 debut at the end of last week’s match.

Enter a certain Joey Barton. Having completed his lengthy suspension for a number of violent conduct offences against Manchester City on the last day of the previous Premier League season, the Liverpudlian is ready to finally take to the pitch in a league game for Marseille; he has played in all of the club’s Europa League matches so far.

Barton will add some much needed quality to a midfield which has been weakened this season after the summer transfer window, and ease the pressure on Charles Kabore and Rafidine Abdullah. The visit of Lille gives Marseille an opportunity to get their season back on track. They remain just two points off league leaders Lyon, but in the perpetually tight Ligue 1, defeat could leave them as low as eighth by the end of the weekend.
 

Lille Battle Back Into Contention

While Marseille started the season well before dropping off, Lille have been recovering recently after a poor beginning to their campaign. Four wins out of five prior to last weekend’s defeat against Lorient forced Lille back into title contention, and somehow, they are just five points off the top of the table.

Lille have also endured a miserable European campaign, although they finally picked up their first points in Belarus in midweek when winning 2-0 at BATE Borisov. But their rise up the table in France has had more to do with getting the basics and their defending right than the usual free flowing football Lille fans have been used to under Rudi Garcia. Like Marseille, Lille lack a regular goalscorer. Unlike Marseille, the 2011 champions cannot look hopefully to the injury table and see someone who, once recovered, can score the goals they need.

The replacement Moussa Sow, their last goalscoring machine, in Nolan Roux, continues to disappoint, having scored just three all season; yet he is still joint top scorer with Dmitri Payet. The problem for Garcia is that his team simply have not replaced the threesome which fired them to the title in 2011 – Sow, Gervinho and Eden Hazard. Any team aside from Barcelona or Real Madrid would struggle to replace Hazard, but Garcia insists that with time, Marvin Martin and Salomon Kalou, the two main signings of the summer, will come good. How long before they do is the big question for Lille.
 

Recent form

Marseille:
Marseille 2-2 Nice (11/11; Ligue 1)
Bordeaux 1-0 Marseille (18/11; Ligue 1)
Marseille 0-1 Fenerbahce (22/11; Europa League)

Lille:
Lille 1-0 Brest (10/11; Ligue 1)
Lorient 2-0 Lille (16/11; Ligue 1)
BATE Borisov 0-2 Lille (20/11; Champions League)

Key absences

Marseille: Mathieu Valbuena (doubt); Andre-Pierre Gignac; Loic Remy; Lucas Mendes; Morgan Amalfitano

Lille: Franck Beria (doubt); Djibril Sidibe (doubt); Tulio de Melo (doubt); Aurelien Chedjou (doubt); Ryan Mendes
 

Players to watch

Marseille – Joey Barton. Barton will be eager to show Marseille what he can do and hit the ground running domestically. One of the most petulant of the current generation of English players, many have questioned the wisdom of Baup in bringing him to the south of France. If it goes well, then Barton can be a positive addition to his squad, as he does possess the technical and passing ability to give Marseille something they do not have in his position. Having someone playing deeper in midfield who can help get the ball forward quickly to the likes of Mathieu Valbuena and Morgan Amalfitano will be a huge bonus. And with those two both possibly missing this weekend’s game, then Barton will be particularly important to Marseille’s hopes.

Lille – Salomon Kalou: Lille’s passing game has been decent this season, but they have not had the end product in the final third all too often. Kalou’s recent return from injury may prove a key point in the side’s season. The Ivorian has a tendency to score important goals and the former Chelsea forward has been doing that since moving to the north of France. Lille may not have many chances and they will hope that Kalou continues his knack of being in the right place at the right time to take one of them.

Match Prediction

In the battle of the 2010 and 2011 Ligue 1 champions, Lille are battling history, having won just seven times in 44 visits to the Stade Velodrome. They are likely to havethe better of possession here, as only Lyon have enjoyed more of the ball on average so far this season. But Lille have not scored more than twice in any match in the current campaign and will hope their forwards start firing soon.

It is hard to see where the goals will come from for the home team, or even the chances. Their leading assist provider, Valbuena, may be out, and Amalfitano definitely is. It means Marseille are rather reliant on Barton and the Ayew brothers Jordan and Andre going forward. Baup’s men do have a resolute defence though and against a side with similar problems finding the net, all the signs point to a draw, and a goalless one at that. Marseille 0-0 Lille.

Read our Marseille v Lille betting preview – at Inside-Bet.com!