Saint-Etienne vs Marseille Preview: Team News & Prediction
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Following promotion to the top-flight, Saint-Etienne have struggled throughout this season as they languish down towards the bottom end of the table ahead of facing an inconsistent but entertaining Olympique de Marseille side this weekend.
Kick-off date/time: Sunday 8th December, 2024: UK – 7:45pm / US ET – 2:45pm / US PT – 11:45am
How to watch on TV: UK – Not televised / US – beIN Sports
How to watch online: UK – Ligue 1 pass / US – beIN Sports
Saint-Etienne Preview: Dull ASSE
Saint-Etienne gained promotion back to the French top-flight with a limited and quite defensive style of football under the management of former Montpellier Herault boss Olivier Dall’Oglio. They started the campaign fairly miserably but have been much-improved as they try and push away from the bottom three and the relegation places.
ASSE come into this one on the back of a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Stade Rennais in Jorge Sampaoli’s opening home game in charge of Rennes with a hat-trick scored by Armand Kalimuendo as well as strikes from Ludovic Blas and Amine Gouiri. They have conceded 30 goals in their 13 matches so far this season.
Marseille Preview: De Zerbi’s Marseille
Former Brighton and Hove Albion, Sassuolo and Shakhtar Donetsk boss Roberto De Zerbi is once again cultivating a combustible but entertaining team down on the south coast of France with Olympique de Marseille, after yet another busy summer transfer window, having 46 goals coming in their 13 games.
The visitors come into this one on the back of a come from behind 2-1 defeat of Monaco in their most recent outing at Stade Velodrome last weekend with Mason Greenwood scoring an 89th minute penalty to win that game. They have now managed three victories in their last four matches in Ligue 1.
Saint-Etienne Team News: Couple of suspensions
Saint-Etienne are without Mathieu Cafaro due to suspension after his aforementioned red card in that 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Rennes in their most recent outing.
As well as the absence of Cafaro, Augustine Boakye is also unavailable due to suspensions with key injuries, too, including New Zealand international attacking midfielder Ben Old.
Predicted XI (5-4-1): Larsonneur; Appiah, Batubinsika, Ekwah, Abdelhamid, Petrot; Tardieu, Bouchouari, Mouton, Davitashvili; Sissoko
Unavailable: Briancon (Injured), Macon (Injured), Boakye (Suspended), Nade (Injured), Old (Injured), Cafaro (Suspended)
Questionable:
Marseille Team News: Several injuries
De Zerbi are dealing with several injury issues for this weekend and the Italian has had to use his very deep squad throughout this season and he will have to do so once again.
Canadian international centre-back Derek Cornelius is sidelined alongside key attacking midfielder Amine Harit as well as the likes of Pol Lirola and Faris Moumbagna.
Predicted XI (3-4-2-1): Rulli; Michael Amir Murillo, Balerdi, Kondogbia; Luiz Henrique, Hojbjerg, Rongier, Ulisses Garcia; Greenwood, Rabiot; Maupay
Unavailable: Ruben Blanco (Injured), Cornelius (Injured), Pol Lirola (Injured), Harit (Injured), Carboni (Injured), Moumbagna (Injured)
Questionable:
Saint-Etienne vs Marseille Prediction
Saint-Etienne have improved as the season has gone on but their ability to completely collapse when they get on the wrong side of things against a good side, as has been the case against Nice and Rennes, is a concern. Marseille have been able to rack up scorelines this season and De Zerbi will hope the switch to a back three will help them become a little more consistent and they are the overwhelming favourites for this one at the Stade Geoffrey-Guichard.
Saint-Etienne vs Marseille Tip: Marseille to win -1 handicap
