Montpellier will play hosts to Marseille in the Ligue 1 matchday 1 on Sunday. The kick-off is at 20:45 CEST.

Preview

Montpellier finished the 2020/21 French top fligh campaign in eight - something that didn't go well with the club's top brass as they decided to replace Michel Der Zakarian with Olivier Dall'Oglio in the Stade de la Mosson dugout in May. It hasn't been the best of starts to a new life at the club for Dall'Oglio as La Paillade only claimed two victories in their five pre-season friendlies while losing the other three.

Marseille, in turn, registered as few as zero defeats in their seven pre-season friendlies (5W, 2D) after new boss Jorge Sampaoli led them to a fifth-placed finish in the Ligue 1 last term, securing a place in the 2021/22 edition of the Europa League in the process.

Team news

Pedro Mendes and Teji Savanier will not help the hosts in their season opener due to injury as well as first-choice goalkeeper Jonas Omlin who continues to struggle with an ankle injury. Pau Lopez, Arkadiusz Milik and Duje Caleta-Car, meanwhile, are set to sit out their side's trip to Montpellier for various reasons.

Prediction

While Montpellier have only signed former Crystal Palace defender Mamadou Sakho to fill in the gaps left by the departures of four first-team regulars this summer, Marseille have welcomed the likes of William Saliba, Matteo Guendouzi, Gerson and Konrad de la Fuente to the Orange Velodrome during the current transfer window to cope with the exits of Florian Thauvin, Valere Germain, Hiroki Sakai and Maxime Lopez. You arguably shouldn't expect the hosts to cause major problems to OM given the former's rather poor transfer activity so far. What's more, Marseille are on a nine-game unbeaten streak ahead of the encounter and haven't suffered a single defeat against their forthcoming opponents in four consecutive head-to-head matches since 2018. Therefore, let's stick with Sampaoli's in-form team in the 2021/22 Ligue 1 opener.

Tip

Marseille to win at 2.37 with 1XBET.