UCL Magazine - Di Maria, Zubimendi and Buruk interviews
Sep 29When and where to watch Marseille vs Spurs
Marseille vs Spurs kicks off at 8pm on Tuesday 1 November.
You can catch all the action from 7pm exclusively live on BT Sport 2.
Marseille vs Spurs match preview
It's rarely ever easy for Spurs in the Champions League. They go into Matchday 6 needing a result to progress to the knockout stage.
A controversial VAR decision last week against Sporting CP at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium ruined any hopes of a stress-free final fixture in France.
Had Harry Kane’s injury-time winner stood, Spurs would’ve already booked their place in the next round. As it stands, all four teams in Group D can still qualify.
A point would be enough to get Spurs over the line, but if there’s a winner between Sporting CP and Frankfurt, Tottenham would finish second in the group.
A win for Spurs would see them through as group winners.
Marseille are currently bottom of the group, but a win against top-of-the-table Spurs would see them leapfrog the London club.
Marseille would then be through, but if there’s a winner between Sporting and Frankfurt the French side would take the runners up spot.
Spurs really can’t afford to crash out of this competition, especially as they should’ve won in Germany and held out for a draw in Portugal.
Antonio Conte received a red card after the VAR incident last time out, so will be hoping his side can come through this match without his help on the touchline.
It’s likely to be a tense and nervy tie, but Spurs know what they have to do.
Marseille vs Spurs predicted lineups
Spurs: (3-4-3) Lloris; Royal, Lenglet, Dier, Davies, Perisic, Bentancur, Hojbjerg, Lucas, Son, Kane.
Marseille: (3-4-2-1) Pau Lopez; Mbemba, Balerdi, Kolasinac, Rongier, Veretout, Clauss, Tavares, Guendouzi, Payet, Alexis Sanchez.
Marseille vs Spurs: Injuries and suspensions
Marseille are looking good on the injury front, with nothing new to report after their weekend match.
However, Manchester United loanee Eric Bailly is still out with an injured leg he picked up against PSG last month.
Antonio Conte rested a number of players for Spurs’ trip to Bournemouth at the weekend, but had to introduce some of them in the second half with his team trailing to the Cherries.
Eric Dier, Ivan Perisic, Lucas Moura and Rodrigo Bentancur all started on the bench and are expected to start on Tuesday. Cristian Romero didn’t even make the squad and hasn't travelled to France due to fatigue and pain in his calf.
Richarlison, who scored twice in the reverse fixture, is still out as is Dejan Kulusevski, who warmed up with his teammates pre-match on Saturday despite not featuring in the squad.
Form (last 6 matches)
Spurs – LWWLLW
Marseille – DWLLLD
Marseille vs Spurs: Form guide
Marseille are on a rotten run of form. Despite currently sitting fifth in Ligue 1, the former Champions League winners have only won once in their last six matches, losing at home twice in that period – a 1-0 defeat to Lens and a 2-1 loss to Ajaccio.
Their Champions League hopes looked dashed before their back-to-back fixtures against Sporting CP. But two wins gave Igor Tudor’s side a great chance of qualifying.
Defeat to Frankfurt last time around means they’ll need to win this match to progress.
Spurs impressive second-half comeback against Bournemouth at the weekend ensured they didn’t go three matches without a win. Collecting all three points at the Vitality Stadium ensures they go into this match confident and back on track, sitting third in the Premier League.
In the Champions League, Spurs have made hard work of qualification – although it’s not always been their fault. A controversial VAR decision last week meant that qualification comes down to the final group game in Marseille.
Still, if Spurs had taken their chances in Frankfurt or held out for a few minutes more in Lisbon they’d probably already be through to the knockout stages.
The London club currently sit top of the table, but will need to finish the job on Tuesday.
Marseille vs Spurs: Last time they met
Tottenham got their Champions League campaign off to a winning start the last time these two met on Matchday 1.
Richarlison scored both goals in a 2-0 victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after Marseille went down to 10 men when Chancel Mbemba brought down Heung-min Son.
He said what?!
Antonio Conte's mind turned to Marseille straight after vicorty over Bournemouth at the weekend:
“I think it was vital for us this win, especially after two losses in the Premier League, and now this win has to give us enthusiasm and passion to go into Marseille and to play a final.
“This game will be a final for us to go to the next round of the Champions League."
Marseille vs Spurs: Players to watch
Spurs will play against some familiar faces at the Stade Velodrome.
Marseille’s side features ex-Arsenal players Alexis Sanchez, Matteo Guendouzi, Nuno Tavares and Sead Kolasinac.
Former Hammer Dimitri Payet rejuvenated his career in the South of France, Cengiz Under played a handful of games for Leicester and goalkeeper Pau Lopez even spent some time on loan at Spurs in 2016/17, but failed to get a game ahead of Hugo Lloris or Michel Vorm.
Of all those ex-Premier League players, it’s perhaps Alexis Sanchez Spurs need to keep an eye on most.
The Chilean, who also played for Man Utd, has scored four goals in ten Ligue 1 appearances this season, and has two goals from four games in the Champions League – both in victories over Sporting CP.
Tottenham’s defence will need to be alert and not give the 33-year-old a sniff of goal.
Dimitri Payet hasn’t been so prolific, but is capable of scoring a screamer from distance, so Spurs will need to limit the space he has on the edge of the box.
Neither player featured in the reverse fixture in London.
Marseille vs Spurs: Key stats
- Marseille are winless in their last nine games against English sides in the UEFA Champions League (D2 L7), with their last such victory coming in December 2010 in a 1-0 win over Chelsea.
- Spurs have played away from home against French sides on six previous occasions in European competition, but have failed to win all six (D4 L2). The only one of these games that came in the UEFA Champions League was in November 2016, in a 2-1 defeat to Monaco.
- Having lost six home matches in a row in the UEFA Champions League between March 2012 and November 2020, Marseille have since won two of their last three such matches (L1), including last time out against Sporting CP. They haven’t won consecutive home matches in this competition since October-December 2010 against MSK Zilina and Chelsea.
- Spurs have failed to score in any of their last three away matches in the UEFA Champions League; the last English side to go on a longer run without a goal away from home in the competition was Manchester United between October 2004 and November 2005 (five games – a record for an English club).
- Marseille’s Nuno Tavares has attempted 48 dribbles in the UEFA Champions League this season, the most of any player. Nonetheless, the wing-back has completed only 27% of those take-on attempts (13), which ranks 67th of the 76 players with 10+ attempts.
