Rennes vs Marseille Tips & Preview - Upper hand for the visitors in Friday night opener

By Tolu Shotade

13 Aug 2025

Tolu Shotade 13 Aug 2025

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Ligue 1 starts with Rennes vs. Marseille on Friday.
Marseille seeking to build on last season’s second-place finish.
Rennes aiming to improve after a disappointing pre-season.

Rennes vs Marseille

The French Ligue 1 begins this weekend, with Rennes hosting Marseille in a Friday night fixture.

The visitors will be keen to at least replicate last season’s second-place finish and looked solid in preseason. They also have a good record in this fixture and should claim the upper hand over the hosts, who seem out of sorts at the moment.

Rennes News

The task for Rennes this term will be to improve on last season’s performance, having finished in the bottom half of the table. They have not been particularly active in the transfer window, with left-back Quentin Merlin from Marseille, one of the few arrivals this summer.

Rennes struggled to find their rhythm in preseason, picking up just one win from six friendly matches and playing out a 2-2 draw with Genoa in their final warm-up fixture. That run appears to be a holdover from the final weeks of the season as Habib Beye’s team lost three of their final four Ligue 1 matches.

One positive for Rennes is that they have held on to attackers like Ludovic Boas and Arnaud Kalimuendo and have scored in nine of their last 10 matches across all competitions. However, they have failed to keep a clean sheet eight times on this run, while six of those fixtures have produced over 2.5 goals.

Marseille News

Marseille will be keen to go one better after finishing second last season, although usurping PSG might be a tall order. Roberto De Zerbi’s team were unbeaten in five preseason matches, finishing with a 3-1 victory over Aston Villa in their final warm-up game.

There have been a few arrivals in this transfer window,; with Igor Paixao, Timothy Weah, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joining the team. Marseille will look to pick up where they left off last season, having won four of their last five Ligue 1 matches.

Goals are generally not a problem for Marseille, who have scored in their last 10 matches across all competitions. However, they have failed to keep a clean sheet eight times on this run, while eight of their last nine Ligue 1 matches have produced over 2.5 goals.

Head to Head

Marseille have seven wins and two draws, while Rennes have picked up just three wins in the last 12 matches. The visitors did the double last season, claiming a 2-1 away victory before returning home for a 4-2 triumph.

Verdict

Rennes v Marseille

It is usually an open encounter between Rennes and Marseille and both teams have scored in three of the last four meetings. With both fixtures last season also producing over 2.5 goals, a similar pattern could be considered here.

Marseille often come out on top in this fixture and did the double last season. Having also won four of their last five league matches, they should get the better of Rennes once again, with the hosts looking unconvincing at the moment.

Yes

Both Teams to Score

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Over 2.5

Total Goals

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Marseille

To Win

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