Last Chance Saloon for Marseille
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As we enter the fourth round of UEFA Europa League group stage games, some teams are quickly running out of time if they want to qualify for the knockout stages. One of those teams is Marseille and on Thursday night they travel to Lazio in what is now a must win match.
Lazio and Marseille find themselves in Europa League Group H and Eintracht Frankfurt are sitting top of the group with 9 points. Lazio are in second place on 6 points and know a win should be good enough to see them qualify.
Marseille have just a single point to their name and if they lose this game, they will be eliminated from the competition with two matches remaining.
Lazio come into this match on the back of a good 4-1 win over SPAL at home in Serie A. The Rome based club needed that win following a disappointing 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Inter Milan a week earlier.
The loss to Inter Milan is Lazio’s only defeat in their last five games in all competitions and the other four matches have all ended in victory. There have been wins over Fiorentina, Parma and SPAL in Serie A and a win at Marseille in the Europa League.
Trend show Lazio enjoy playing at home in the Europa League and have won each of their last seven games at the Stadio Olimpico. Lazio have won by 2 or more goals in four of their last eight Europa League games.
Marseille are in poor form heading into this match and have lost each of their last three games in all competitions. The first defeat came at home against Lazio in the Europa League followed by a 2-0 home loss to Paris Saint-Germain and a disappointing 3-0 defeat at Montpellier on the weekend.
Trends show Marseille have won only two of their last seven games in all competitions and both of those victories came in Ligue 1. They are yet to win a game in the Europa League this season, losing two and drawing one.
Marseille struggle when playing away from home in the Europa League and they have won just one of their last ten away matches. They have conceded a goal each of their last nine away Europa League games.
Team news and Lazio are still without central midfield duo Lucas Leiva and Milan Badelj who are injured. Joaquín Correa and Dusan Basta have returned from suspension but may have to settle for a place on the bench.
Marseille make the trip to Rome with Rolando the only fitness concern. The French club may make changes following three straight defeats but Dimitri Payet and Florian Thauvin are expected to keep their place in the team.
Lazio will know they have an opportunity to seal qualification for the knockout stages with two games to play. They looked the superior team in the previous meeting between the teams and could come away with a win by 2 goals or more.
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