Ligue 1: PSG vs. Olympique Marseille Preview, Odds, Prediction

The big derby of French football takes place tonight at Parc des Princes where PSG hosts Marseille. The ferocious rivalry between these two sides is known worldwide, and despite the Saints dominating Ligue 1 over the past decade, the intensity didn’t decrease. Olympique is 12 points behind the Parisians, but they are coming to the French capital in high spirits, after reaching the semis of the UEFA Europa Conference League. Meanwhile, PSG once again failed to do anything noticeable on the international stage, having lost in the round of 16 to Real Madrid.

Preview

PSG (-250) is trying to forget the elimination from the UCL, but that won’t be easy. In the meantime, they lost to Monaco on the road and managed to bounce back with two big victories over Lorient at home, 6-1 and Clermont on the road, 1-5. Still, that isn’t enough to satisfy the fans who are pretty angry following the exit from the most prominent European competition.

Certain talks about the possibility of seeing the Saints changing their owners emerged this week, and that only made their fans more uneasy. All in all, they are pretty much certain atop of the league standings but their ship is being rocked from all sides.

The last five of PSG’s events across all the competitions all saw over 2.5 goals, while they have nine wins and a loss in the past 10 matches at home. Currently, the Saints won five in a row at Parc des Princes scoring 13 and allowing two goals.

Olympique Marseille (+600) comes to Paris in perfect shape, winning the past eight games in a row, in all the competitions. In all but the latest one against PAOK in Thessaloniki, this unit scored at least twice. That game in Greece ended 0-1 in Olympique’s favor, and it sealed their advance to the UEFA Europa Conference League semis.

Winning this trophy would be a massive success for the team from the southern part of France, and something that would make this generation legendary.

Olympique is without a loss in the recent seven road trips, winning six times and posting a draw. In five of those games, they would both score and concede, and the same number of clashes ended with three or more goals.

Latest News

Draxler, Herrera, Kurzawa, Paredes and Diallo are all injured for the hosts and won’t play. Ghabri and the goalkeeper Navas are questionable.

On the other side, Milik and de La Fuente are out for sure due to injuries, while Balerdi remains questionable until the day of the game.

Head to Head Games

Four of the past five head-to-head games ended with only one side netting. The first meeting this year saw no goals at the famous Velodrome in Marseille.

In Paris, PSG posted four wins and one loss in the recent five events, with the note that the most recent event, the one from the previous year saw the guests winning, 0-1. In all other triumphs of the hosts, they netted three or more times.

Prediction

We won’t waste too much of your time here. Our first pick would be over 2.5 goals, with the odds -195. The second would be a red card on the game, and that is currently paid +265. There will be a lot of rough tackles and challenges, plus the rivalry so we expect to see a red card.

Pick: Over 2.5 -195
           Red Card +165