Our prediction for this Ligue 1 match:
St Etienne
Match Time & Date:
02/04/2022
21:00
Prediction: 1-1
Marseille
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard will host Saturday’s Ligue 1 game between St Etienne and Olympique Marseille, the two old rivals. Les Verts aim to escape the relegation zone, while OM are eager to retain their spot in top two. The hosts are likely to go adopt an attack-minded approach against Marseille, but they will have to do it without Sacko, Neyou, Hamouma, Sow, Maicon, and Crivelli, who miss out with injuries.
The visitors, on the other hand, aim to build on back-to-back wins over Brest and Nice, and given their attacking potential, both teams to score betting option should be considered. Luan Peres is banned for the match, while both Arkadiusz Milik and Leonardo Balerdi are out of contention with injuries, speaking of the visiting team. In the first half of the season Marseille defeated St Etienne 3-1.
Highlighted Player (Ryad Boudebouz):
Despite being born in Colmar, France on February 19, 1990 Ryad Boudebouz represents Algeria on the international stage. The Montpellier midfielder played for both France U17 and France U19 teams in the past, but he made his senior debut with Algeria on May 28, 2010 in a friendly against Republic of Ireland.
Speaking of his club career, Boudebouz played for Colmar and Sochaux at youth level and he continued playing for Sochaux first team. After scoring 24 goals in 164 appearances in the league for the club, he moved to Bastia in 2013 and he played 66 games for les Bleus.
Ryad Boudebouz played for the Corsican side from 2013 to 2015 and he signed a four-year deal with Montpellier and you should know that he netted 11 goals in 33 appearances for la Paillade in the 2016/2017 Ligue 1 campaign. His main position is attacking midfield, but he is capable of playing at both left and right winger as well.
Highlighted Team (Marseille):
Olympique de Marseille are considered one of the best French football clubs. Les Olympiens won their ninth Ligue 1 title in 2010, but winning of the 1992/1993 Champions League trophy is seen as the club’s biggest success. Marseille defeated Italian giants Milan in the title game, with Basile Boli scoring the winner (1-0) in the Olympiastadion showdown.
It has to be noted, though, that the Stade Velodrome outfit were banned from defending the title in the 1993/1994 season after being involved in a match-fixing scandal. To make things even worse for the fans, the club suffered enforced relegation to the Ligue 2. Olympique de Marseille participated in the Europa League final on two occasions (1998/1999, 2003/2004), but they were beaten by Parma and Valencia respectively in the title games. OM’s home ground Stade Velodrome was opened on June 13, 1997 and the capacity of the stadium is 67.394.
The likes of Franck Ribery, Didier Deschamps, Didier Drogba, Laurent Blanc, Fabien Barthez, Samir Nasri, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Djibril Cisse all played for Marseille in the past.
