Lens appeared to get very fortunate with their fixtures against Marseille. Rather than facing them early on when they were challenging for the title, a Covid-19 outbreak saw their match delayed until Marseille were collapsing, Simon Banza securing the win with a header.
Now, a few weeks later, the home match comes after Marseille have lost four on the trot and André Villas-Boas has handed in his resignation after Olivier Ntcham was signed without his blessing.
With Villas-Boas suspended, Nasser Larguet took charge, setting his team up in a 4-4-2 formation rather than their usual 4-3-3. He made five changes to the team that lost to Monaco, starting two natural defenders, Alvaro Gonzalez and Boubacar Kamara, in midfield, Dimitri Payet, Valère Germain and new loanee Arkadiusz Milik in attack and Lucas Perrin in defence, replacing Leonardo Balerdi, Pape Gueye, Michaël Cuisance, Nemanja Radonjic and Dario Benedetto.
Franck Haise continued with the same team that beat Montpellier on Saturday, sticking with their usual 3-4-1-2 formation.
Just as he did in the previous match between these sides, Steven Fortes would push up into midfield when Lens played out. This was far less effective though, as Marseille would often drop off initially and allow Lens to advance rather than immediately pressing high, meaning Jean-Louis Leca just had one less player to pass out to.
Lens were still able to manipulate Marseille’s press though. This was mainly thanks to Facundo Medina pulling wide, away from the forwards. With Germain and Milik staying central to block passes through the centre, Florian Thauvin would be forced up to close him down. As a result, Kamara would be dragged away from the centre to cover for Thauvin, leaving Gonzalez alone in front of the defence where Lens found themselves able to outnumber him.
Marseille’s main opportunities all came from them winning the ball back in Lens’ half though, with them taking the lead thanks to Gonzalez’s interception deflecting up into the air and falling to Thauvin to finish.
They then doubled their lead immediately before half-time from a free-kick.
At half-time, Haise substituted Clément Michelin for Arnaud Kalimuendo, switching to a 4-2-3-1 formation with Kalimuendo on the left and Florian Sotoca moved out to the right. This allowed them to occupy Marseille’s back four, creating space for the full-backs out wide.
Gaël Kakuta and Sotoca would also drop back into midfield to work the ball forward, ensuring Marseille couldn’t widen to deal with the full-backs without being punished for it.
Lens responded immediately after the break. Kalimuendo was released down the left, ran at Pol Lirola and crossed into the box. Three-on-three, two Marseille defenders missed the ball, allowing Sotoca to finish first time.
Lens then equalised with another cross. Marseille were pulled back to defend a corner, meaning Jonathan Clauss had space to whip a ball into the box during the second phase as Marseille’s players stepped out. It was a lovely cross and an even better finish, with centre-back Medina touching it past Steve Mandanda with the outside of his boot.
Marseille changed to a 4-4-1-1, pulling Payet inside close to Cheick Doucouré and moving Germain to the left to offer greater defensive security out wide. They failed to get back into the game though, with Lens continually pouring forward in search of a winner.
This match followed a similar to their previous one: an even first half followed by Lens dominating the second. They may have failed to get all three points here, but it was arguably a better performance from the Sang et Or.
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