The Ligue 1 season ends on Friday night and we have a match to enjoy between Marseille and Montpellier at the Stade Velodrome. Marseille start this game in 6th place on 58 points and cannot be caught by the teams below them.
Montpellier are in 5th place, just 1 point ahead of their opponents but cannot catch the teams in-front of them. Therefore, this is almost like a playoff to see which team will finish in 5th this season.
Marseille had hopes of making a return to the Champions League this season but they will end the campaign without any European football next season. Results have been inconsistent for much of the season and they have won one of their last four matches.
The win came last time out at Toulouse and Marseille scored 5 goals. Prior to that result, they lost at home to Nantes and Lyon plus picked up a point in a draw at Strasbourg.
Trends show both teams have scored in five of Marseille’s last six games in Ligue 1 and they have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last nine. Marseille have also conceded 2 or more goals in six of their last nine Ligue 1 matches and defensively they have been struggling.
Montpellier have enjoyed a very strong finish to the season. Since the 1-0 defeat in Nice at the beginning of April they have won four and drawn two of their six Ligue 1 matches. There have been wins over Toulouse and Paris Saint-Germain at home plus Strasbourg and St Etienne away.
Trends show both teams have scored in five of Montpellier’s last six Ligue 1 games and they have scored 2 or more goals in eight of their last twelve.
Montpellier have won each of their last two away matches in the league but have won only three of their last eleven on the road. They have picked up four draws and tasted four defeats. Two of their last three defeats have come at Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon, which are not easy places to visit.
Looking ahead to the team news and Marseille are without Duje Ćaleta-Car who is suspended and Bouna Sarr who has a knee injury. Florian Thauvin and Dimitri Payet will be hoping to end the season strongly in-front of the home fans.
Montpellier have doubts over the fitness of three players with Ruben Aguilar, Facundo Piriz and Keagan Larenzo Dolly struggling with injury. Andy Delort will be hoping to add to his 14 goals this season.
This should be a great game to watch with both teams looking to score goals. It is difficult to split them and we could see a draw with both team scoring.