Ligue 1 Tips: Marseille to sign off with big win before international break

Sampaoli’s men set to shine again

Marseille vs Metz (3rd vs 19th)
Sun, 12:00 GMT
Live on BT Sport 3 and Betfair Live Video

Marseille are shorts odds to win on Sunday lunchtime but it’s still worth finding a way to make Jorge Sampaoli’s hosts pay.

L’OM are 1.422/5 to win, with Metz 8.27/1 and The Draw 5.14/1.

Instead of backing Marseille on the Match Odds market, look at the Asian Handicap market so you can get a bigger price on the home side.

With our selection, you need Marseille to win by two or more goals to earn a profit, but there are plenty of reasons to believe the game will play out like this.

At first, Marseille’s W3-D2-L1 home record looks good rather than outstanding, with their 50% win rate a reason to think twice before backing the hosts.

But Marseille have generally only dropped points vs better opposition: they lost 3-2 vs Lens (currently 4th in the standings) and drew 0-0 vs PSG (1st).

Against weaker sides, they’ve impressed at home: they brushed aside St Etienne (20th) 3-1, and saw off Lorient (13th) 4-1. Home and away, their record against sides below the top six is W4-D2-L1.

Metz go into this game on a run of three defeats and a draw, their sole point earned vs current bottom side St Etienne. Their away form is woeful: their last three fixtures on the road have ended in defeats vs Lens (4-1), Angers (3-2) and Strasbourg (3-0).

Support Marseille, and for a full guide to Asian Handicap betting, click here.

Firepower key to Strasbourg win

Nantes vs Strasbourg (9th vs 7th)
Sun, 14:00 GMT
Live on Betfair Live Video

Strasbourg go into this game on a high after a massive win last weekend and their momentum ought to ensure they avoid defeat at Nantes.

They thrashed Lorient 4-0 last Sunday and could have won even more comfortably but eased off after racing into a 3-0 HT lead.

Habib Diallo (pictured above) was on the scoresheet twice while his talismanic attacking partner Ludovic Ajorque found the net with a typically smart header. Those two plus fellow striker Kevin Gameiro have 14 league goals between them this season, notched at a rate of a goal every 160 minutes.

Strasbourg will relish facing moderate opposition such as Nantes on the road as they’ve had a tough fixture list: away from home they’ve faced PSG (currently 1st), Lens (4th), Rennes (5th) and Lyon (6th). The only time they faced lower-ranking opposition – Montpellier (11th) – they avoided defeat (1-1).

Nantes lost 2-0 at Montpellier last weekend and have dropped points vs bottom-six sides Bordeaux (1-1 draw) and Reims (3-1 defeat) in recent outings. Their defence is the concern: they’ve kept just two clean sheets in 12 league games so far so it’s difficult to see them shutting out a Strasbourg attack on fire.

Nantes are 2.3611/8 to win, with Strasbourg 3.052/1 and The Draw 3.3512/5. While Strasbourg are an appealing proposition, the Draw No Bet market (or 0 on the Asian Handicap) is perhaps a smarter alternative.

Supporting Strasbourg on the Draw No Bet market means you will make a profit if Strasbourg win, and get your stakes back if the game ends in a draw.