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Sunday sees Marseille play host to Lens in a Ligue 1 game at the Stade Velodrome.
Marseille remain unbeaten in Ligue 1 action this season and are currently in 2nd place, while Lens have only lost one game and sit just behind Marseille in 4th.
So which of these high-flying sides will come out on top come Sunday?
Under new boss Jorge Sampaoli, Marseille have looked like a genuinely excellent outfit thus far into the 2021-22 campaign. They have yet to lose a match, and while their most recent game saw them draw 0-0 with Angers, prior to that they were scoring freely.
In fact, only one side, league leaders Paris Saint-Germain, have scored more goals than Marseille’s twelve. It is worth noting, however, that they were trailing against Nice in August prior to that game being abandoned due to crowd trouble.
Lens meanwhile saw their own unbeaten run snapped at the hands of Strasbourg on Wednesday. The result was a sizeable upset considering Strasbourg’s lowly league position, but was largely an outlier based on Lens’ previous form.
Franck Haise’s side already have wins over Monaco, Lille and Bordeaux this season and will be hopeful of a positive result here.
Marseille vs Lens Head-to-Head
Historic fixtures have been very evenly stacked between the two - Marseille have 23 wins while Lens have 22 wins and 12 matches have ended all square. Last season’s results between these sides favored Lens, who drew 2-2 with Marseille at home before beating them 0-1 at the Stade Velodrome.
Marseille form guide: D-W-D-W-W
Lens form guide: L-W-W-D-W-
Marseille vs Lens Team News
Marseille
Marseille will be without two of their key players in the game, as Dimitri Payet and Arkadiusz Milik are both on the shelf with injuries. Boubacar Kamara came off injured in the match against Angers and remains a doubt.
Injured: Dimitri Payet
Doubtful: Arkadiusz Milik, Boubacar Kamara
Suspended: None
Lens
Lens defender Kevin Danso is suspended following his red card against Strasbourg, but Frank Haise’s side have no injuries to worry about coming into the game.
Injured: None
Doubtful: None
Suspended: Kevin Danso
Marseille vs Lens Predicted XI
Marseille predicted XI (3-3-3-1): Pau Lopez, William Saliba, Leonardo Balerdi, Luan Peres, Pol Lirola, Pape Gueye, Matteo Guendouzi, Cengiz Under, Amine Harit, Konrad de la Fuente, Bamba Dieng
Lens predicted XI (3-4-1-2): Jean-Louis Leca, Jonathan Gradit, Facundo Medina, Deiver Machado, Jonathan Clauss, Cheick Doucoure, Seko Fofana, Przemyslaw Frankowski, Gael Kakuta, Florian Sotoca, Arnaud Kalimuendo
Marseille vs Lens Prediction
This promises to be a tight match to call between two of Ligue 1’s stronger outfits.
Marseille might have a slightly better side on paper, but it’s likely that they’ll miss the invention of Payet, and Lens are a tough team to break down anyway.
This one will be close, so the prediction is a draw.
Prediction: Marseille 2-2 Lens
