Olympique Marseille vs Reims 10/08/19

10 August 2019

Olympique Marseille will kick off the 2019-20 Ligue 1 campaign in front of the home crowd, as they welcome Reims to the Stade Velodrome in the first L1 round of fixtures.

The hosts have endured mixed fortunes during their extensive pre-season preparations (W4, L3), with two of those wins coming against the L1 sides, Bordeaux and St. Ettiene – both by the same 2-1 scoreline. Five of Marseille’s seven pre-season games have produced over 2.5 goals and featured goals in both halves, with four of them seeing both teams score. Les Phocéens will now look to extend their four-game unbeaten home run against Reims in all competitions (W1, D3), with just one of those clashes producing over 1.5 goals and seeing both teams score. Les Olympiens were the fifth-best home side in the Ligue 1 last season, with 37 of their total 61 league points arriving at this venue (60.65%).

Meanwhile, the visitors come into this meeting after putting together three wins in their pre-season, with all of those triumphs seeing them score over 1.5 match goals and restrict their rivals to a maximum of one goal. Before that, Les rouges et blancs have played out back-to-back draws at the beginning of their summer preparations, with both of those stalemates ending with the same 1-1 scoreline. Interestingly, no team has played out more away draws in the Ligue 1 last season than Reims (9), with just 24 of their total 55 league points arriving away from home (43.63%). Still, David Guion can be encouraged by Reims’ recent H2H record against Marseille (W2, D2, L1), even though both of those wins have come when Reims at home.