Montpellier vs Marseille prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2023-01-01 18:00.
Hours after he declared the World Cup break would precede “a new era” for Montpellier’s Ligue 1 campaign, manager Romain Pitau earned his first top-flight victory from five attempts (D2, L2) with an emphatic 2-0 win over top-half Lorient. Most crucially, it saw them end the round with an important four-point buffer from the expanded four-club relegation zone.
In many ways, Montpellier did indeed break new ground whilst signalling a potential turnaround because not only was it their first league win of the season against any club above them in the standings going into this round (D2, L6), and their first in eight league matches against any opposition (D2, L5), but Montpellier also recorded their first clean sheet in competitive football from 11 attempts since the beginning of September.
Marseille will be endeavouring to ensure that the status quo prevails and that they can extend their unbeaten run against Montpellier in all competitions to eight games (currently W5, D2). Seemingly inspired by their pre-match tribute to Brazilian goalscoring deity Pelé, they propelled themselves back into the third of the three UEFA Champions League places with a 6-1 home demolition of mid-table Toulouse.
They joined Montpellier as one of five clubs to record a 5+ goal victory in the first 16 rounds of Ligue 1, in the process further improving their impressive league record (W10, D3, L1) to all clubs excluding the current top-two PSG and Lens. Having already registered 2+ goals in each of their four away wins this league season, their return to action points to another strong attacking performance here.
Players to watch: Téji Savanier has now scored in three of Montpellier’s five Ligue 1 wins after getting them off to the perfect early start last round, but it may take him a bit longer than that to get past Marseille goalkeeper Pau López, who has not conceded before the 45th minute in his last seven Ligue 1 starts.
Hot stat: The pre-match favourite has won seven of Montpellier’s last nine league home games this season (D1, L1).