Olympique de Marseille and AS Monaco are clashing at Orange Velodrome in a derby match of round 27 in the French Ligue 1. Marseille has been hot and cold for most of the season, but they have now lost only 1 of their last 5 games. Monaco is struggling right now a lot, they are on a 2-game losing streak, while they haven’t won any of their last 4 games.
Marseille has dropped to 3rd place after Nice has beaten PSG yesterday, and with that, Marseille has lost their Champions League spot. With 24 conceded goals, Marseille is still one of the best defensive teams in the league, but they are decent in the attacking end with 39 scored goals. There are a lot of games left to be played this season, and Marseille still has the time to get to that second place. In the Conference League, Marseille is facing Basel next week, and they are playing at home in the first leg. Payet is the best player and leading goalscorer for Marseille with 9 goals, while Under has added 7 goals. Payet has also added 8 assists. Overall, Marseille is a solid team, they are aggressive defensively, but they need a bit more offense to separate them from their competition.
Some time ago, Monaco has fired Niko Kovac as their head coach because they were underperforming and they weren’t good enough, well now, they are worse under the new head coach. Monaco is in low 10th place at the moment, they are 5 points away from the Europa League, and they are conceding a lot of goals. Monaco has some talented players, they can play great, but they are not as effective as they should be. As far as the Europa League goes, Monaco is playing against Braga on the road next week, and since they have been solid in the Europa League so far, they have a good shot at getting past Braga. In their last 2 games, Monaco has lost to Reims at home in Ligue 1, while earlier this week Monaco has gotten knocked out of the French Cup by Nantes after a penalty shootout. Ben Yedder is the leading goalscorer for Monaco with 15 goals. Diop has added 6 goals. Henrique has added 5 assists. Monaco can do a lot better than this, they could be a lot higher in the standings, but they are playing for garbage right now.
This is one of the biggest derbies in France, and it’s always a good game. We have two struggling teams, but Marseille is slightly better, and they are at home here. I see a battle, but I think Marseille will prevail.