Marseille welcome Annecy to the Orange Velodrome for their Coupe de France quarter-final tie on Wednesday evening.
Igor Tudor's side overcame Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 on February 8 to take their place in the last eight, while Les Rouges qualified for the same stage of the competition on the same evening, following a dramatic 6-5 penalty shootout victory over Paris FC at the Stade Charlety.
Match preview
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Marseille are seeking their 11th Coupe de France trophy in the tournament's 106-year history, but a first since the turn of the century.
Les Phoceens sit in second position in the Ligue 1 standings, eight points adrift of Paris Saint-Germain, after suffering a 3-0 defeat at the hands of the defending champions at the Orange Velodrome.
Including Sunday evening's defeat, Marseille have only suffered two losses in their previous 13 league matches, with both coming throughout February, in front of their own supporters, against OGC Nice and Christophe Galtier's table-topping side.
Preparing for their first-ever head-to-head encounter against Annecy, Marseille will be confident of overcoming their lower-league opposition and subsequently making a first appearance in the semi-finals of the Coupe de France since the 2015-16 edition of the competition.
With only 14-time winners Paris Saint-Germain lifting the most prestigious knockout competition in French football more times than Marseille's 10, Tudor's side will be keen on reducing that margin, beginning with Wednesday evening's encounter.
Unlike their established Coupe de France-winning hosts, Annecy are in pursuit of registering their first-ever overall success in the competition.
Laurent Guyot's troops are in 10th position in the Ligue 2 standings, 12 points behind Sochaux, who occupy the final promotion position, but more importantly, only nine above the heavily-congested relegation zone.
Les Rouges' preparations for their biggest match of the 2022-23 campaign were made slightly more complicated on Saturday, as they suffered a 5-1 defeat at the hands of title challengers Sochaux at the Auguste Bonal.
Annecy qualified for the quarter-finals after emerging victorious over fellow Ligue 2 outfit Paris FC on penalties, following the conclusion of extra time.
Team News
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Marseille manager Igor Tudor could change his starting XI following their defeat to current Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
After being left off the hosts' opening team sheet on Sunday, Jonathan Clauss and Azzedine Ounahi could be restored to Les Phoceens' lineup.
Following on from scoring in their round of 16 success over Christophe Galtier's side, veteran forward Alexis Sanchez is again set to lead the line for Marseille on Wednesday.
Off the back of being the victims of a five-star display in front of goal from an unrelenting Sochaux outfit, Annecy boss Laurent Guyot could also contemplate altering his opening team sheet.
After replacing two of his starting front three on Saturday, Guyot could replace either Alexy Bosetti or Steve Shamal with RC Lens loanee Ibrahima Balde in the Les Rouges' starting lineup.
Arnold Temanfo is also pushing for a recall at right-back, with Francois Lajugie at risk of dropping down to the substitutes' bench for their midweek encounter.
Marseille possible starting lineup:
Lopez; Balerdi, Bailly, Kolasinac; Tavares, Rongier, Veretout, Clauss; Under, Ounahi, Sanchez
Annecy possible starting lineup:
Escales; Temanfo, Mouanga, Jean, Bastian; Pajot, Kashi, Demoncy; Testud, Bosetti, Balde
We say: Marseille 4-1 Annecy
With both sides looking to return to winning ways with immediate effect, we predict that Marseille will be the team to do that with a convincing victory over Annecy on Wednesday evening and seal their place in the draw for the Coupe de France semi-finals.
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