Marseille vs Clermont prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2023-12-16 16:05.
Marseille couldn’t continue their recent upturn in form in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday night when losing out at Brighton, but three Ligue 1 wins in a row for the first time since April has elevated Les Phocéens back into the European reckoning domestically this term. Those three wins equal the tally they’d managed to pick up in their previous 15 (D5, L7), with their 2+ goals in each of those in stark contrast to the five blanks they registered in five of the previous eight.
At the other end of the pitch, Gennaro Gattuso’s side have not conceded a single goal in their last six Ligue 1 home games, an eye-catching record which now stands at more than 600 minutes. That’s the club’s best run since late 1998, and they’ll fancy their chances of extending it this weekend as they host the division’s lowest scorers (9), relegation battlers Clermont.
Les Lanciers picked up a valuable point last time out against high-flying Lille, but the goalless draw – their third of the campaign – made it nine of 15 Ligue 1 games in which they failed to trouble the opposition goalkeeper. Pascal Gastien’s side had been thumped 3-0 at Brest prior to that home draw, but they’ve not suffered back-to-back away defeats in Ligue 1 since August 2022, although Marseille were the team to inflict that second defeat last year!
Indeed in the two seasons Clermont have spent in Ligue 1 to date, they’ve lost three of the four H2Hs with Sunday’s opponents (W1), and continuing along the same pattern, they haven’t scored a single goal in any of those three defeats. Their lone victory did come at the Orange Vélodrome though, running out 2-0 winners in February 2022.
Key battle: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored in four of Marseille’s last five games in all competitions, including five in three home fixtures. Up against him, teenage defender Cheick Oumar KonatĂ© has been shown the first yellow card of the game in each of Clermont’s previous two away fixtures – both within the first 20 minutes.
Hot stat: Marseille have been shown the joint-most red cards (3) of any Ligue 1 side this season, ahead of this round of games.