Marseille will look to get back on the winning trail in Ligue 1 after a tricky run of results when they face Reims, the club currently on the longest winless run in Europe's top-five leagues, on Saturday evening.
Defeat in Le Classique before the international break has not only put rivals Paris Saint-Germain on the brink of confirming the title, it also moved Roberto De Zerbi's back down into the pack of sides battling for Champions League qualification.
Match preview
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After initially appearing to be cruising to second place behind PSG, Marseille now find themselves in a scrap for the top four once again following a run of three defeats in four games.
The defeat in Paris followed a 3-0 loss at Auxerre in their previous away game, meaning they have lost two from two on the road - as many as they had suffered in the first 11 of the campaign.
Tightening up defensively here will be top of the priority list in order to avoid conceding three or more goals in three successive Ligue 1 away matches for the first time in over 40 years.
The visitors will also be keen to avoid falling to a third straight defeat for the first time this season, as they were also beaten on home soil by Lens on March 8, given that Monaco and Nice are now just two points behind.
Lyon in fifth are within four points too, and missing out on the Champions League altogether is inconceivable given the position they found themselves in earlier in the campaign.
With three of their remaining eight matches coming against the sides currently cut adrift in the bottom four, Marseille will still be fancied to finish in the top four, but their recent results against Reims must be improved upon.
Reims have only suffered defeat more often in Ligue 1 against PSG than they have against Marseille in the 21st century, but they drew 2-2 at the Velodrome earlier this season, with Mason Greenwood needing to find a late equaliser to salvage a draw for OM.
At the Stade Auguste-Delaune last season, Reims were 1-0 winners, scuppering Marseille's hopes of European football late in the campaign, so the visitors will be desperate to avoid a repeat of that.
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However, any repeat looks unlikely given Reims' recent run of results, which has seen them put together the longest winless run in Europe's top-five leagues.
It is now 15 games since Reims beat Le Havre 3-0 on the road back in early November, with Luka Elsner paying the price and losing his job, but his replacement Samba Diawara has been unable to turn the tide since arriving.
The club's all-time record winless run is 16 matches, set in 1978, so the current crop are on the verge of unwanted history, while another disappointing result could also see them drop into the bottom three imminently, with Saint-Etienne set to be awarded three points in the near future after the abandonment of their game with Montpellier.
Reims start the weekend just two points above the playoff spot and three clear of automatic relegation, but both Le Havre and Saint-Etienne have shown themselves as more capable of picking up results than they have in recent weeks.
What makes the current run even more remarkable is that Reims could find themselves in a cup final in a few weeks time, if they can beat fourth-tier Cannes in the Coupe de France in midweek, but all focus in the meantime will be on this pivotal encounter on home soil.
Team News
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The hosts remain bogged down with a number of injuries to important first-team players in attack such as Mohamed Daramy, Reda Khadra and Jordan Siebatcheu, while PSG loanee Gabriel Moscardo is also currently sidelined.
Reims will hope their important Japanese trio of Keito Nakamura, Junya Ito and Hiroki Sekine are not suffering from fatigue following a taxing flight back from international duty in the early hours of Wednesday morning, especially the former, as he is their top scorer this season with eight.
Despite having multiple players away on international duty, there are no new injury concerns for De Zerbi ahead of this one, with Amine Harit, Michael Murillo and Faris Moumbagna the individuals still absent.
Geronimo Rulli and Leonardo Balerdi will have a long journey back from Argentina, but neither played any significant minutes for their nation, unlike Amine Gouiri, who continued his brilliant form with a goal and an assist for Algeria against Botswana last week.
Marseille attacker Greenwood has gone a rare two games without a goal, but he remains second in the Ligue 1 scoring charts with 15 this season, with one of those strikes coming in the reverse fixture.
Reims possible starting lineup:
Diouf; Sekine, Okumu, Kipre, Akieme; Gbane, Atangana, Am Kone; Ito, Ibrahim, Nakamura
Marseille possible starting lineup:
Rulli; Lirola, Balerdi, Cornelius; Luis Henrique, Bennacer, Kondogbia, Dedic; Greenwood, Gouiri, Rabiot
We say: Reims 0-2 Marseille
Facing opponents that have gone 15 games without a win, and who have taken just six points in that time, means Marseille will be hugely confident of ending their recent poor run of form to consolidate their position in second.
With relegation fears growing week-by-week, these are not the opponents Reims would have liked to face next, even if OM are slightly out of form, and the hosts are set to equal their club-record winless streak this weekend.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
