Dafanews Kenya

Dafanews Kenya

AVB not taking Amiens for granted

Football   |   March 6, 2020

JOIN NOW!
VIEW MARKET

Olympique de Marseille will hope to maintain their new winning run as they welcome lowly Amiens to Orange Vélodrome this evening.

The manager, André Villas-Boas is taking nothing for granted against the relegation-threatened side despite being eight points ahead of the third team on the Ligue 1 table.

Rennes, which is occupying the third spot, will want to put pressure on Marseille.

Amiens on the other hands is languishing in the 19thposition of the table, having failed to win any of their last 15 league games, while their hosts, Marseille have taken 39 points out of possible 48 with only a setback back against Nantes which shocked them at home 3-1.

Speaking ahead of the game, the former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspurs coach said the squad has talked about their recent experiences at their home ground, especially on the loss to Nantes and also the narrow win over Toulouse.

So, having had a reminder of the two games, he said he had reminded them that their next opponent is on a negative run, but lost to Monaco in the closing minutes and managed a 4-4 with the runaway leaders, PSG. They also played a stalemate with Strasbourg.

He also noted that they lost their last game against Metz, which has piled more pressure on them, but he is not leaving any stone unturned against a wounded team.

While also noting that the weekend is important for all the teams, he is still uncertain about the shape of his midfield with playmaker, Payet back in training after being substituted out of his last game with a minor calf injury.

Since the club has taken a precaution not to aggravate it, the Frenchman did some running, but he is yet to decide whether he is fit to play.

He also said Thauvin also had two full days of training and he was then rested on Wednesday. This has secured a chance for him on the bench for tonight’s game, but AVB still said his chance of playing is 50-50.

Also still out injured is  Radonjic while Sakai had two full training sessions.

In their last outing, Marseille won 3-2 at Nîmes with the goals coming from Dario Benedetto.