Olympique de Marseille 0-2 AS Saint-Etienne

THE MATCH

These sides were both aiming to keep up 100 percent records in this encounter which was rearranged after being postponed on the opening weekend of the campaign because of a Covid-19 outbreak among the Marseille squad.

OM were fresh from beating Paris Saint-Germain in the capital at the weekend to claim their first victory in the Classique in nine years, but they were brought crashing back down to earth with a bump in their first outing of the campaign at the Vélodrome.

Scorer of both goals when Saint-Etienne beat FC Lorient 2-0 just before the international break, Hamouma gave Les Verts the lead six minutes in here, stealing in front of Duje Caleta-Car to convert Yvann Maçon’s left-wing cross.

Youngster Marley Aké came on for the second half for Marseille and turned a Florian Thauvin centre against the bar soon after the restart as they went looking for an equaliser. Morgan Sanson then squandered a terrific opportunity and instead it was Saint-Etienne who went on to score again, Arnaud Nordin setting up Bouanga to beat Steve Mandanda and make it 2-0. There was no way back for Marseille.

THE PLAYER: Denis Bouanga

The Gabon forward picked up where he left off at the weekend, when he scored one goal and made another in Saint-Etienne’s 2-0 win over RC Strasbourg Alsace. Here he had a whole host of chances before eventually grabbing his second goal of the campaign to make sure of the points for Claude Puel’s side, once again underlining his importance to Les Verts. He now has five goals in his last seven Ligue 1 games.

THE STAT: 41

Saint-Etienne have their first win away to Marseille since August 1979, 41 years later. The result ends a run of 26 games without tasting victory at the Vélodrome. It is a first away league win since last November for Sainté, who have a perfect three wins from three to start the campaign.

>> Teamsheet