Ligue 1 Tips: Back big weekend wins for Nice and Marseille | OneFootball

French Ligue 1

Adrien Rabiot is in excellent form for Marseille

With an excellent 24% ROI from his Ligue 1 picks this season, James Eastham reveals the smart selections ahead of this weekend's French top flight fixtures...

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Back Matheus Cunha to have one or more shots on target when Wolverhampton Wanderers travel to Bournemouth on Saturday at the super-boosted price of 1/1 from 1/2.

The Cherries are 12 places above Wolves in the Premier League but the Brazilian has been a big threat for the visitors all season, with 14 shots on target in his last six matches. With 30 this season, Cunha is in the top five players in the Premier League for shots on target and averages 1.5 every 90 minutes.

Auxerre vs Marseille - Sat, 20:05

Marseille are good enough to beat all Ligue 1 sides bar PSG and we back them to collect another three points this weekend.

The southern port club sit second in the Ligue 1 table and are clear favourites to secure runners-up spot behind almost-certain champions PSG this season.

Under manager Roberto De Zerbi, OM have played some terrific football recently, and their ambitious January transfer window activity saw them further strengthen their formidable squad.

Wing-back Amar Dedic (signed from Red Bull Salzburg), midfielder Ismael Bennacer (AC Milan) and striker Amine Gouiri (Rennes) arrived to bolster a squad that was already one of the top flight's most impressive.

Gouiri scored twice in Marseille's 5-1 win at home to St Etienne last weekend. He is 6/5 in the Anytime Goalscorer market on the Sportsbook to find the net on Saturday.

Given that Marseille have only Ligue 1 to focus on - they are already out of the French Cup, and were not in Europe this season - De Zerbi has an embarrassment of riches to pick from all over the pitch. The immense competition for places is clearly a factor in Marseille playing intensely for 90 minutes, rather than easing off once the points are in the bag.

Auxerre are battling to avoid relegation. They are far more limited than Marseille, although in Gaetan Perrin and Hamed Junior Traore have two attackers that can trouble the hosts. The former is fourth on the Ligue 1 assists chart (with six), while the latter, on loan from Bournemouth, is Auxerre's nine-goal top scorer. Traore is 10/3 in the Anytime Goalscorer market this weekend.

Over the 90 minutes, however, we expect a dominant Marseille performance. Marseille have triumphed in five of their last seven (W5-D1-L1) Ligue 1 matches, and should win again here.

The visitors are 1.59 to claim victory. Instead of accepting that odds-on price on the Match Odds market, we prefer backing Marseille on the Asian Handicap.

With our selection, you will have your stakes refunded if Marseille win by a single goal, and make a profit if Marseille win by two or more goals. Six of Marseille's nine Ligue 1 away wins have been by a margin of two or more goals this season.

Nice vs Montpellier - Sun, 16:15

This is a mis-match between teams at the opposite ends of the table, making Nice a strong bet to win.

Franck Haise hosts are third in the Ligue 1 standings and head into the game in terrific form. They have won three of their last four Ligue 1 matches, and were deserving 2-0 victors over Lens (8th) and Marseille (2nd) in their last two home outings.

Nice have played some terrifically fluent football since the turn of the year. Like Marseille (see above), they have only Ligue 1 to focus on, and boast the talent and quality to secure a podium finish.

There are zero positives for Montpellier. Bottom of the Ligue 1 table, they have the division's worst defensive record, and have lost their last three Ligue 1 matches. They have injury absences in defence this weekend, and their attack was significantly weakened by the transfer window sales of Akor Adams (Sevilla), Moussa Al Tamari (Rennes), and Arnaud Nordin (Mainz) last month.

Nice are 1.4 to win. For bigger odds, we prefer Nice on the Asian Handicap. With our selection, you will make a profit at good odds if Nice win by two or more goals.

Recommended bets

Back Marseille -1.0 Asian Handicap at Auxerre @ 2.0Back Nice -1.0 & -1.5 Asian Handicap at home to Montpellier @ 1.95

James' 2024-25 Ligue 1 P/L

Staked: 53ptsReturned: +65.63ptsP/L: +12.63pts