Who would have thought last August that Montpellier-OM would be a top of the table clash between the 2nd and 4th placed sides? Most likely nobody...And yet, it is a surprising 2nd placed Montpellier who host OM on Saturday at 21h00.

Olympique de Marseille will finish off a difficult month of January with a short trip to the Hérault. January was made difficult by the opponents that they faced, the weather conditions and the state of the pitches, but also by the number (4) of automatic elimination matches in the cup competitions. Saint-Etienne, Bordeaux, Lille were played in a month that will end with the game against Montpellier. At the start of the season, there was nothing to suggest that this match would be a top of the table clash between the 2nd and 4th placed teams in the L1. «They are a promoted side that we didn’t necessarily expect to be where they are. They have a quality side and play well together. René Girard has built up the squad, the team spirit with old heads, youngsters from the academy and some foreigners, who have brought something extra, like Costa, Montano or Spahic. They are a difficult side to play against, they manage to grind out results and over the last few weeks they have done just that with a good system in place. The players change, but not the system, analyses Didier Deschamps. They came into the season looking to avoid relegation, they have just about done that now and have higher ambitions ».

With 12 victories from 21 matches, Montpellier are the side who have won the most number of games (after Bordeaux). René Girard’s men win often, rarely draw (3) but can also lose (6 defeats). Like at the start of 2010, when they completely messed up their match against Monaco (4-0 at Louis II). «It happens, comments the OM coach, but not often. They don’t have a particularly large squad. In the first game against them, 4-2, we weren’t in control. On Saturday they will want to pull off a big result against OM in front of a sold out crowd. Against us they will be more motivated than ever ».

But, OM will want to finish off this month of January in style before heading into February which will be just as busy (L1, domestic cups, Europa League). OM who showed great team spirit to get out of the trap set them by Trélissac, to win in the last minute of the match at Geoffroy-Guichard, to get back on level terms against Bordeaux and to defeat Le Mans and Lille after having rapidly gone behind. OM are hungry and it shows out on the field. «Montpellier are a good side, we saw that at the Vélodrome and they confirmed that in their performances afterwards. Because of the quality of the opponent, it’s going to be a difficult match for us. It would have been any way as we do not have much recuperation time and because they are ahead of us in the L1. Our priority remains the league so we need to be in form on Saturday night ».
In the quest for all three points at La Mosson, Didier Deschamps will be able to count on the Africans (Koné, Mbia) back from the African Cup of Nations, on the tricky attacking midfielders (Ben Arfa, Valbuena, Abriel) and an attack which has scored 10 goals in five matches during January!