Olympique de Marseille can count on the return of Mario Balotelli as they take on Nates on Sunday evening, but top scorer Florian Thauvin is out injured.
Suspended for the 3-1 win at Guingamp last week, Balotelli would have missed the game in any case because of a thigh injury. The seven-goal man is fit again but Thauvin, the scorer of 13 goals, is out. A club statement read: "During the final training session, Florian Thauvin got a knock to one of his ankles - one that was already painful - and he'll miss the Nantes game."
OM coach Rudi Garcia said in his pre-match press conference: 'It will be difficult to choose the starting eleven on Sunday. I have a lot of choices to make. Removing ocampos from the team after he scored last match, not playing Balotelli even though he scores a lot, not playing Germaon even though he's just scored two goals playing alone upfront in a 4-2-3-1…
"It's difficult to remove Thauvin or Payet from the team as they both had an assist in the last match. I also liked Nemanja's performance after he came on. In the midfield, Maxime Lopez played 15 games in a row and then found himself on the bench. Luiz has just played two games in a row. Kevin came on and provided an assist, while Morgan Sanson played very well at Guingamp… So wish me good luck!"
