Marseille are unbeaten in six Europa League matches this season and should extend that sequence in Germany on Thursday.
The French side have an important Ligue 1 clash with Lyon on Sunday evening but manager Elie Baup has fielded strong line-ups in each of their opening two Group C matches and I’m expecting him to do so again.
An opening 2-2 draw in Turkey against Fenerbahce, having required two rounds of qualifying to make the tournament proper, was followed by a 5-1 thrashing of AEL at the Stade Velodrome and Marseille now face a Borussia Monchengladbach team hopelessly out of form.
The Bundesliga side have won just one of their previous 10 matches and they are really struggling defensively. It is 15 goals shipped in their five previous outings and ‘gladbach are already up against it to make the knockout stage of this competition.
An opening goalless draw in Limasol was followed by an embarrassing 4-2 defeat in front of their owns by Fenerbahce and they are a long way below the form which saw them finish last term in fourth place in the German top flight.
That resulted in qualification for the Champions League but they were ousted by a fairly average Dynamo Kiev side over two legs before dropping into the Europa League and Marseille will be no pushovers on Thursday.
It is just three wins on home soil since February, a run now stretching to 16 matches, and the hosts should not be clear favourites to oblige.
Monchengladbach are as short as 2.20 in a place to land the spoils but prices on the exchanges of 2.60 are much more realistic.
It’s difficult to envisage a home win for Lucien Favre’s team and Marseille certainly rate as value at odds against in the draw no bet market, despite a surprise 1-0 defeat at Troyes last time out.
Marseille remain joint top domestically with big-spending PSG and can perhaps nick an away win against inferior opponents.
2pts Back Marseille Draw No Bet (vs. Borussia Monchengladbach) @ 2.20 (Ladbrokes)