Marseille Vs Angers

Marseille will aim to recover from a disappointing away defeat last weekend when they host bottom-of-the-table Angers at the Stade Vélodrome on Friday. In this Ligue 1 opener for the weekend, Marseille have the opportunity to climb to the top of the table with a commanding win against an opponent they’ve dominated in recent encounters.

Match Preview

Following one of the most thrilling matches in European football this season, where they secured a 3-2 victory over Lyon, Marseille came crashing back to reality on Sunday. Despite playing against 10 men for 85 minutes, Roberto De Zerbi’s men failed to find the back of the net, suffering a 1-0 loss to Strasbourg in Alsace.

That defeat ended Marseille’s unbeaten run, during which they had picked up 13 points from a possible 15. This left them level on points with Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco at the top of the table. However, both of those clubs pulled ahead with victories over the weekend, leaving Marseille still in the top three as they head into this match. With a strong performance, Marseille could at least temporarily reclaim joint-top status.

After their hard-fought win over Lyon, De Zerbi downplayed talk of title contention in his debut season, stating that it’s "not serious" to consider winning a championship while PSG and Monaco have spent years building their squads. Still, Marseille have shown remarkable cohesion under the Italian manager, with 15 goals in their first five games—an achievement they hadn’t reached in 70 years. Sunday’s defeat marked the first time they failed to score under De Zerbi.

To leapfrog into first place on Friday night, Marseille would need to secure a seven-goal margin of victory. While that may seem ambitious, they’ve enjoyed overwhelming success in recent meetings with Angers, winning their last three encounters and scoring 11 goals in the process. Given Angers' current struggles, it’s unlikely they will become only the second team to win at the Vélodrome in 2024, the first being PSG.

On their immediate return to Ligue 1 from Ligue 2, Angers have shown little improvement since their disastrous relegation in the 2022-23 season, when they finished with a mere 18 points from 38 games. This season, they seem headed for a similar fate, having collected just two points from their opening six matches.

After losing their first three games, Angers managed to earn back-to-back 1-1 draws against Strasbourg and Nantes, but they were thoroughly outplayed last weekend in a 3-1 home loss to Reims, where the visitors enjoyed a comfortable afternoon.

Despite being strong candidates for relegation once again, Angers extended manager Alexandre Dujeux’s contract this week, securing his services until 2026. Dujeux’s achievements from last season are still held in high regard, with the club seeing him as the right person to lead them, even if they face another drop to Ligue 2.