An all Cote d’Azur matchup takes place at Nice’s Allianz Riviera on Valentines evening as Marseille travel along the south-eastern coast, with the visitors looking to inflict consecutive Derby defeats on the hosts whilst extending their unbeaten away record.
Home away from home
Following a narrow 2-1 defeat at the imperious Paris Saint-Germain back at the start of October – a fifth loss from their opening ten games – OM have accumulated 20 points from a possible 24 away from home.
Having not won at their Stade Velodrome stadium since a 4-1 victory against Bastia way back in September, Les Olympiens' away form has been of welcome relief and has helped them move away from the lower reaches of Ligue 1 to currently 10th; just five points off the European qualifying positions.
Despite six wins from their last eight as the visiting team, Marseille have found victories hard to come by at home – just two in total – and their winless Stade Velodrome run was extended to 10 games last time out in the league, as once again they lost a close encounter to the runaway Parisian leaders.
The hosts fell behind early to Ligue 1’s top goalscorer, Zlatan Ibrahimovic – his 21st of the league campaign – but season-long loanee, Remy Cabella, restored matters midway through the first period.
With the visitors 33 game unbeaten run on the line, L’OM piled on the pressure either side of half-time following their equaliser, however it proved a false and predictable dawn as a rejuvenated Angel Di Maria won the game for PSG with 20 minutes remaining.
Riviera comforts with Europe in sight
As the visitors to the Allianz Riviera on Sunday night struggle for home wins, Nice head into the weekend's encounter on the back of four straight home league wins.
Angers, Lorient and Toulouse have all fallen to a one goal defeat in the Cote d’Azur since the turn of the year, and Les Aiglons' home form has seen them climb into and cement themselves in the European qualification spots.
However, even in their lofty position of third, last weekend’s agonising 1-0 defeat in the Cote d’Azur Derby at the hands of Monaco, resulted in the Red and Blacks falling six points behind their local rivals and automatic UEFA Champions League qualification.
In a predictably intense encounter down on the Southern French coast, the hosts were reduced to 10-men with Nabil Darir seeing red for a second bookable offence just after half-time.
Unfortunately for Nice they were unable to take advantage of their numerical advantage, and as the game entered the final 10 minutes the visitors suffered double heartbreak. Not only did defender, Tiemoue Bakayogo, head in an 81st minute winner, but star-man and top goalscorer, Hatem Ben Arfa, suffered a hamstring injury which will keep him out for at least a month during the end-of-season run in.
Germain to fill scoring void
Former Marseille playmaker, Ben Arfa, is Les Aiglons top scorer this season with 12 goals in all competitions, including four in the weekend’s hosts' last three home wins.
The ex-Newcastle United forward man has been in scintillating form for the Cote d’Azur outfit; restoring his reputation not only domestically but across Europe as he aims to fire his current side into next season's Champions League.
However, following his confirmed absence for four to five weeks, manager, Claude Puel, will have to look to seven-goal league striker, Valere Germain, to be the creative and scoring spark in order to take three crucial points on Valentines night.
French forward Germain is on a season-long loan from local rivals Monaco and is his sides' second highest scorer this season, although will have to end a run of nine games in all competitions without registering on the scoresheet.
However, it was the Frenchman's solitary strike that sealed all three points for the Red and Blacks just over three months ago against their visitors this weekend.
Germain struck within the first quarter at Stade Velodrome during early November to secure a one goal victory – Nice’s last away win in Ligue 1 and a winless league run stretching to six games as the travelling side.
Familiar faces
As well as their scale up the league table, Marseille enjoyed a 2-0 victory at amateur side Tresillac in the Coupe de France, Round of 16, on Thursday evening; a game which saw January loan signing, Steven Fletcher, score on his full OM debut and Abou Diaby return to a matchday squad after another lengthy layoff.
Scottish international, Fletcher, made the move to Southern France from Sunderland during the winter transfer-window and will hope his goalscoring and assisting exploits during his cup introduction will result in his first full league appearance on Sunday, following a brief ten minutes in Le Classique a week ago.
Likewise, midfielder and ex-Arsenal man, Diaby, will hope for a first appearance in a Marseille shirt after being an unused substitute in the French Cup during the week.
Diaby made a return to France last summer following his release from the Gunners and another former North London midfielder spoke ahead of Sunday’s clash on his excitement of playing alongside his fellow Frenchman
Lassana Diarra, who himself is due to return from recent injury against Nice, said that he was “happy Abou Diaby is back” but “we mustn’t put too much pressure on him”. Diarra added that Diaby “needs to rediscover the pleasure of playing again” and once that happens “he is going to hurt teams”.
Elsewhere in Les Olympiens side, defender Benjamin Mendy remains side-lined with a thigh injury although fellow defensive players, Nicolas Nkoulou and Brice Dja Djedje, should return to the starting lineup after being rested for the midweek Coupe de France encounter.
L’OM’s goalscorer last weekend, Cabella, should also return to the first eleven after additionally being rested midweek, whilst boss, Michel, will once again look to the goals of striker, Michy Batshuayi – the young Belgian sits only behind Swedish hitman, Ibrahimovic, in the Ligue 1 goalscoring charts, with 12 goals this campaign.
Puel mulling attacking options
With inspirational forward Ben Arfa missing for Sunday evening's matchup at the Allianz Riviera, Les Aiglons boss, Puel, must decide who will fill a large attacking void in the Nice side, with one option being returning club captain, Mathieu Bodmer, although the former PSG man has predominantly been used in central defence during his spell in Cote d’Azur.
Puel spoke ahead of the weekend’s clash on how his top scorers absence might force a “different approach” from his side, but also insisted “our opponents will do to” as “they focus a lot on Hatem”.
The league’s second highest scorers can look to ever-present midfielder, Jean Michael Seri, to supply chances for his forward line after accumulating a joint-team high of four assists this season, alongside striker Germain.
Nampalys Mendy should also lineup in the Red and Blacks midfield line, as the young Frenchman looks to add to his sole assist and goal this season and continue his record of appearing in every league game thus far.
Favourable Nice form
The Valentine evening matchup between the two Southern French rivals will be the sixth meet in the past three seasons, and Nice will look to their four wins from the last five against Marseille as reason for optimism.
However, with Les Aiglons running a four game home winning streak and Les Olympiens last losing away from Stade Velodrome at the start of October, something has to give.