Rennes VS Marseille

Rennes welcome Marseille for this French Ligue 1 round 26 clash at Roazhon Park early Monday morning Beijing time. This is the fourth-best league in the world and we can expect a pretty entertaining and high-level game here! There is no doubt about the fact that Marseille are the better team by pure class. However, the difference between the two teams is very small! I cannot agree with the biggest, pretty often somewhat sharp bookmakers that offer the largest betting limits here! They see Marseille as solid favorites offering them odds of around 2.40 to travel home with all three points. With today's expected lineups there is nothing to justify them starting as favorites! Rennes are a very strong team in front of their loud and demanding fans. The home crowd offers a massive boost for them! Ligue 1 has one of the biggest home advantages in Europe but Rennes' record at home is particularly good. Yes, they lost to a strong team Lille at home on the 4th of February 1-3 but before that played a very large number of games without losing at their stadium – winning most games. They beat pretty strong teams like Feyenoord and Dynamo Kyiv in the Europa League and their most recent loss before the Lille game at home happened on the 7th of August 2022! In my opinion Rennes should be slim favorites in this clash. This means that with the recommended +0.5 goals handicap my fans and I have a very good chance of winning once again betting on this league as all we need is a draw.

Marseille are currently in second place in the standings with 52 points to their account and are having a strong season. They have netted the ball 48 times in this league so far this season. They have, however, been slightly lucky in terms of expected points (xPTS) as this number is 47.88. They have allowed 25 goals but their number of expected goals allowed (xGA) is 31.02. In terms of defensive quality the teams are more or less equal. Rennes' xGa is 30.89 and the actual number is 28. Offensive Marseille do have a small edge. Rennes have grabbed 46 points and are in second place in the league table. I would not be surprised to see them toppling Lens (4th) during the remainder of the season. I trust their excellent coach and they can improve in all areas of the game. Their number of xPTS is 44.54. Rennes have been in better form than the visitors lately winning three games in a row. In their most recent game they were not at their best away from against a dangerous team, Nantes but managed to win 1-0. Before this they needed penalties to qualify over a pretty strong Ukrainian team, Shakhtar Donetsk, in UEFA Europa League. They won the 2nd leg 1-0 after 90 minutes of play but were clearly the better team with much more expected goals (xG). Marseille, on the other hand, have lost two games in a row after disappointing performances. They lost to Annecy, a team from Ligue 2, in their most recent game in the French Cup as massive favorites on the betting market!