Two sides yet to taste defeat in Ligue 1 meet at the Municipal Stadium on Saturday night, when Toulouse host Marseille.
The blueprint of manager Roberto De Zerbi is certainly in place at Marseille, given the start the team has made, with plenty of goals going in at either end, while Toulouse have been much more pragmatic in the opening weeks.
Match preview
© Reuters
Hosts Toulouse enter the weekend having drawn their first two matches in rather unspectacular fashion, as an opening day drab 0-0 at home to Nantes was followed up by a respectable 1-1 draw away to Nice last week, where Carles Martinez's side salvaged a point in the final quarter of an hour.
While Toulouse remain unbeaten, if they do not find three points this weekend against tough opposition, that will see them fail to win any of their opening three league games for the first time in over 10 years.
However, in context, it has still been a decent start, considering the club has lost key players at both ends of the pitch recently, with the likes of Logan Costa and Thijs Dallinga both departing.
Marseille are certainly a bogey team for Toulouse though, because even though the visitors have not been as successful in the past decade, their record over Les Violets is remarkable.
Toulouse are winless in their last 20 meetings with OM - their worst run against any single team in the club's history, as Marseille are also unbeaten on their last eight league visits here, scoring 21 goals in the process.
Under new management, the visitors will seek to extend that run with a return to winning ways here, after Marseille were held by Reims last weekend.
New signing Mason Greenwood came to the rescue to salvage a point for De Zerbi's side just a week after they had beaten last season's third-place finishers Brest 5-1 on the road.
Marseille have registered a combined xG of 5.3 in their opening two games, but they still give up plenty of chances, similar to how De Zerbi's Brighton & Hove Albion did.
Under his stewardship, Brighton became the first top-flight club in 65 years to both score and concede in 20 consecutive matches, and it appears Marseille will play with the same sort of mindset.
Having no European football to contend with could also be a blessing in disguise for Marseille, who are certainly targeting a top-three finish, given that De Zerbi struggled to juggle Premier League and Europa League commitments last season.
- D
- D
- W
- D
Team News
© Reuters
Toulouse are injury-free heading into this clash, but still reeling from the sales of Dallinga and Costa over the summer.
Shavy Babicka, signed in January from Cypriot side Aris Limassol, could plug the gap of goals left by Dallinga though, as he returned from injury to score the equaliser off the bench at Nice last weekend.
All three incomings so far this summer for the hosts have been in defence, as Charlie Cresswell and Mark McKenzie have already made their debuts, and veteran Djibril Sidibe could follow suit soon.
Marseille will be without striker Faris Moumbagna for the foreseeable future due to a knee injury, so Jonathan Rowe has arrived from Norwich City, and Neal Maupay is set to follow suit on loan from Everton.
Fellow attacker Elye Wahi has found it quite tough since making the switch over the summer, with his Paris roots not going down too well with the Marseille faithful, and his poor performance last week will not have helped.
On the injury front, the visitors are set to be without Ismael Kone, as the former Watford man is still yet to make his competitive debut, so Geoffrey Kondogbia and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg should start in the engine room.
Toulouse possible starting lineup:
Restes; Cresswell, Nicolaisen, McKenzie; Kamanzi, Sierro, Casseres, Donnum; Aboukhlal, Babicka, Gboho
Marseille possible starting lineup:
Rulli; Murillo, Balerdi, Brassier, Merlin; Kondogbia, Hojbjerg; Greenwood, Harit, Luis Henrique; Rowe
We say: Toulouse 1-3 Marseille
If the first two games are anything to go by, De Zerbi's Marseille will be a very entertaining watch this season for the neutrals, and that could continue here on the road.
Toulouse's woeful record against Marseille does not bode well, and after not showing enough in the final third to win either of their opening two matches, they may come up short here.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
