LOSC boss Christophe Galtier has confirmed that star striker Victor Osimhen has made a rapid recovery and will be fit to take on Olympique de Marseille on Saturday.
Olympique de Marseille - LOSC
The Nigerian international hitman, scorer of seven Ligue 1 Conforama goals already this season, was forced off with a groin complaint last weekend as LOSC defeated Bordeaux. Galtier said: "Victor is fit to play, even if we've had to manage his physical condition all week. On Wednesday he worked on his own, on Thursday he worked with the squad and on Friday he will do the whole session. As for Renato Sanches, we'll have to wait until after Friday's session before deciding whether to take a risk with him against Marseille. I think he'll be fit for the trip to Valencia."
Timothy Weah, signed from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer, is still out with a hamstring problem and Galtier admitted: "It's taking longer than expected. Everyone is different in terms of their recovery time. He has a hamstring tear that's quite major and we can't force it. It hasn't gone as quickly as we expected. He's done some of the sessions and it hasn't been any better."
Galtier's Marseille counterpart André Villas-Boas was left fuming after the Coupe de la Ligue exit to Monaco on Wednesday, a match in which he tried out a system featuring three centre-halves. The Portuguese said: "We tried out something new, something we'd worked on in the United States in pre-season. It wasn't a case of the system being at fault, it was a case of us not being aggressive enough. I don't have an answer to why we played like that in the first half. We need to find the answers among ourselves. Given what we showed in the second half, it's not physical."
OM have two huge games coming up, at home to both LOSC and Olympique Lyonnais. Despite the 4-0 loss at Paris Saint-Germain last Sunday, OM remain only three points behind second-placed Nantes and have it all to play for when it comes to the league.
Villas-Boas: "We need to give them something back"
Villas-Boas said: "We can accept losing to Paris, given the quality of the opposition, but we cannot accept losing to Monaco. It was shameful for the supporters who were behind us from the first to the last minute of the match. We need to give them something back. There's not too much pressure on the players. We're lacking a little bit of quality and we'll speak about that among ourselves."
Saturday is about bouncing back for Marseille and Villas-Boas continued: "This season we've won four games, drawn four and lost four. That's the way it is. We are still in the running when it comes to the league and that was always our main objective. We missed an opportunity with this cup competition. We need to come up with an answer and winning against Lille on Saturday is the most important thing."
Probable Teams:
Olympique de Marseille: S.Mandanda (cap.) – Sakai, A.Gonzalez, Caleta-Car, Amavi – Rongier, Bo.Kamara, M.Sanson – Payet, Benedetto, Germain
LOSC: Maignan – Djalo, Fonte (cap.), Gabriel – Celik, André, Bo.Soumaré, Bradaric – Yazici, Rémy, Ikoné