St Etienne vs Marseille prediction: FRANCE: Ligue 1 betting tips on match 2024-12-07 19:45.
[p]Matchday 14 of Ligue 1 will conclude at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, where Saint-Étienne will be looking to get back to winning ways after they were mauled away to Rennes 5-0 last weekend. That result saw them stay in uncomfortably close proximity to the relegation zone, as prior to the weekend, the Greens found themselves just a single point and place above the dreaded bottom-three.[/p]
[p]Returning home should give them hope they can distance themselves from the drop zone, since they have been victorious in four of their last five games in front of their fans (L1), with three of those featuring clean sheets. That form may hardly alleviate the home faithfuls’ nerves of welcoming Marseille though, as against no other team have Saint-Étienne lost more matches than the 54 defeats handed to them by their upcoming visitors.[/p]
[p]Marseille will be desperate for another three points in order to keep the pressure on league-leaders PSG, something they should be confident of doing since they’re coming off back-to-back wins over Lens (3-1 away) and Monaco (2-1 home). Manager Roberto De Zerbi will be urging his troops to remain 100% focused despite their recent uptick in form, as those two victories were preceded by just two wins in six games beforehand (D1, L3). [/p]
[p]Included in that run is their poor performances against the other two newly-promoted teams of this term, a 1-1 draw at home to Angers and a 3-1 loss at home to Auxerre. That might not bother the Phocaeans as they prepare to hit the road here, since they’ve won six of their seven league games on their travels this season (L1) to give them a winning percentage of 86%, the highest of all teams in Europe’s top-five leagues heading into this weekend [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Saint-Étienne will be willing Ibrahim Sissoko to get his scoring boots on, as that usually brings good fortune since they won 11 of the last 13 games in which he found the net (D1, L1). Out to steal the headlines will be Marseille’s Luis Henrique, who has the tendency to come out firing after the break with four of his last five goals coming within the first 15 minutes of the second half.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Saint-Étienne manager Olivier Dall’Oglio has lost ten of his previous 11 encounters with Marseille (D1). [/p]
[p][i]Written by Peter Stavrinou[/i][/p]