Marseille vs Arsenal Preview

Arsenal kick-off the Champions League group stage with a trip to French club Marseille on Wednesday night. The north London outfit are also in a group alongside Italian club Napoli and last year’s finalists Borussia Dortmund, in what has been described as the ‘Group of Death’ by many.

The Gunners head into the game in good spirits though and are currently second in the Premier League, while the home side are fourth in Ligue One after five games.

Marseille drew 1-1 at Toulouse last time out, but will be looking to make a strong start to their Champions League campaign. L’Om have made a decent start to their season. They won the first three Ligue One games, before losing at home to newly-promoted Monaco 2-1 and then gaining that draw at Toulouse.

Elle Baup’s side did not feature in last season’s competition, but made it this year by finishing second in the French top-flight last season, so should head into this encounter in confident mood.

The two most recent encounters between the pair in this competition were in season 2011/12. The Gunners claimed a victory on French soil, while the game at the Emirates resulted in a goalless draw. The vociferous home crowd may prove a big advantage in this clash, as an injury-hit Gunners side visit the Stade Velodrome.

Arsenal head into the clash in the midst of a well-publicised injury crisis. The Gunners will face the French side without midfielders Santi Cazorla, Mikel Arteta and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who are out injured with relatively long-term injuries.

Germany international forward Lukas Podolski is also on the Gunners casualty list, while Tomas Rosicky is also expected to miss the clash with a thigh injury, but could return in the Gunners home game with Stoke this weekend.

However, German centre-back Per Mertesacker will return to the squad after missing the 3-1 victory at Sunderland at the weekend. Meanwhile in-form striker Olivier Giroud is also expected to shake-off an injury picked up in that victory to play as the lone front man for the Gunners. Arsenal fans will be looking for the French international to continue his superb scoring form in this clash.

Belgium defender Thomas Vermaelen could return to the Arsenal starting line-up after coming on as a substitute against the Black Cats, although he is more likely to be on the bench for the Gunners. Arsenal will again look for inspiration from new record signing Mesut Ozil, who made a big impact on his Gunners debut on Saturday.

Marseille head into this clash with a near fully-fit squad. France international striker Andre-Pierre Gignac will lead the L’Om’s attack and could be the big danger to Arsenal. Gignac has previously been a transfer target for a host of Premier League clubs.

Gignac will be assisted by attacking midfielders Dmitri Payet and Mathieu Valbuena, who are likely to be the other big dangers to the Gunners backline.

Marseille are considered the weakest out of the four teams in Group F and Arsenal can be confident of going to France and coming home with maximum points.