Brest vs Olympique Marseille 31/08/20

31 August 2020

Olympique Marseille will be looking to post a fourth consecutive Ligue 1 win over Brest when the two sides meet at the Stade Francis-Le Blé this weekend.

A dismal 4-0 away defeat to Nimes in their Ligue 1 curtain-raiser means the hosts have started the new season on the same sorrow note they finished the last one. Indeed, Brest had failed to get on the scoresheet in both of their league losses before the coronavirus outbreak curtailed the 2019/20 season in France. The ‘clean-sheet’ theme was massively significant to Brest’s home fortunes last season. In fact, 62.5% of their Ligue 1 home results (wins/losses) in 2019/20 had seen the winner on the day shut out the loser (5/8). Another tight affair is on the cards here, as all five of their previous top-flight H2Hs held at this stadium have ended separating the sides by a -1.5 goal margin (W2, D2, L1).

Meanwhile, the visitors have enjoyed a quite satisfying year so far, suffering just one defeat in eight Ligue 1 fixtures since the calendar flipped (W5, D3). Interestingly, while four of those five defeats yielded a narrow one-goal margin, three have seen Marseille keep a blank sheet. ‘Les Phocéens’ also boasted the division’s second-best away record last season (W8, D4, L2), which is the sort of the statistic they’ll want to dwell on ahead of this trip. Marseille’s success on the road in 2019/20 was largely dependable on their scoring abilities, as seven of their eight Ligue 1 away triumphs saw Andre Villas-Boas’ side score over 1.5 goals.