FC Lorient vs Olympique Marseille Preview 09/04/2023

FC Lorient vs Olympique Marseille – 09/04/2023

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A huge battle for a place in Europe for next season takes place at the Stade du Moustoir with Lorient looking to for one more charge towards the top five when they play hosts to a Marseille side eyeing up a spot back in second.

It’s been a topsy-turvy few weeks for Marseille as it seems they would get their title quest back on charge but now head into this game down in third and behind Lens by goals difference.

Lens are also expected to beat Strasbourg on Friday night at home and Marseille may end up staying in third for another week.

Ahead of the game, Marseille are just two behind Lens in the goals difference column, having let in eight extra goals and scored 54 compared to their  48.

This also means Alexis Sanchez and co. remain behind Paris Saint-Germain at the top of the table by six points and given the form of the league leaders, a title battle is still well and truly on, especially if they can win here.

Marseille come into this game off the back of a 1-1 draw against Montpellier that saw Matteo Guendouzi score a penalty after 44 minutes to equalise for his side. Before this, the third-placed side also defeated Reims 2-1 and drew 2-2 with Strasbourg in a game that saw Leonardo Balerdi sent off – he can now return for this game.

As for Lorient, they have rocketed down the Ligue 1 table in recent weeks and have struggled tremendously since the World Cup. The club were third back in November and dropped down to sixth in recent weeks.

Now, however, they are coming into this home match down in 10th and now eight points behind Lille in fifth place.

Lorient have only secured one win in the past two months, as they beat Troyes this time in March 2-0 at home. Around this result, they lost 1-0 at home to Auxerre, drew 0-0 away to Lyon and 1-1 away to Nice, as the club lost to Lille last weekend in a 3-1 loss.

Laurent Abergel was sent off just two minutes after Ibrahima Kone equalised late on in that game and he now misses this match.

These two did meet back in January shortly after the World Cup break, as Saed Kolasinac, Sanchez and Jordan Veretout all scored for Marseille in a 3-1 win after Terem Moffi gave Lorient the lead.

Forebet predicts over 2.5 goals and a win for Marseille.