AS Saint-Étienne face Olympique Marseille in weekend clash.

[introduction]

AS Saint-Étienne vs. Olympique de Marseille kicks off at 19:45 [GMT] on Sunday, December 8, at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.

[home]

Despite showing signs of improvement as they look to distance themselves from the relegation zone, Saint-Étienne [WLWLWL] are coming off the back of a 5-0 heavy defeat at Stade Rennais. “There will be other obstacles and big ones. We have a very tough season ahead; we know that,” said coach Olivier Dall’Oglio in the wake of that defeat. Defensive frailties remain a concern, as they have conceded 30 goals in just 13 matches this season—the highest a team has conceded in the current campaign. Although they endured a poor start to the season with consecutive losses in their first three games, they managed to secure back-to-back home wins to exit the bottom three. The 10-time league champions have picked up 13 points [4W, 1D, 8L] while scoring 11 goals in the process. Saint-Étienne have rediscovered their home form [WWLWW], winning four of their last five matches. This is as many victories as they managed in their previous 21 home games combined, including their previous season in the top flight [4W, 6D, 11L]. Meanwhile, the Greens have struggled in recent encounters against Marseille, losing five of their last seven matches [2W, 5L]. Dall’Oglio has lost ten of his previous 11 encounters with Marseille [1D, 10L]. They may, however, find inspiration from Marseille’s poor outing against promoted sides, as the Olympians have not won any of their two matches against newcomers this season. Mathieu Cafaro and injured Augustine Boakye are out of Sunday’s match due to suspensions. There are also several players on the treatment table, including Ben Old and Yvann Maçon among others.

[away]

Marseille have excelled on the road this season, boasting the league’s best away record with six wins from seven matches while also scoring the highest number of goals [27] on the road so far. Roberto De Zerbi’s side moved up to second place on the log with a 2-1 victory over Monaco last Sunday. Goals from Luis Henrique [53’] and Mason Greenwood [89’ P.] left OM with 26 points. They have now managed three victories in their last four matches in Ligue 1 and will be seeking to further assert their dominance over Saint-Étienne. They are the team that has beaten the Greens the most in history [W54 in 121 matches], a record they will be keen to extend. De Zerbi has plenty of injury worries, as Derek Cornelius, Amine Harit, and four others are sidelined. Neal Maupay is expected to be at the attacking end of a 3—4—2—1 formation.