Marseilles v Inter Milan

Former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri is going through a patch even stickier than his old club are eHnduring. Inter Milan have lost four of their last five games in Serie A, and even that doesn’t tell the whole story. On Friday they lost 3-0 at home to lowly Bologna, before that there was a 1-0 loss to relegation threatened Novara - again at the San Siro. Recent away matches have been no better; a 1-0 reverse at Lecce was followed by a 4-0 hammering at the hands of Roma. Now down in 7th spot, crisis is not too strong a word.

Marseilles aren’t exacly formidable by Champions League standards - in fact they are only 4th in the French top flight - but their form is much better and they should win on home soil. They have only lost one Ligue 1 match at Stade Velodrome this season, conceding just eight goals in 13 matches there.

The defence is most certainly the chief asset of Didier Deschamps’ side. This will be the case to an even greater extent on Wednesday evening when leading goalscorer Loic Remy will be absent due to a hamstring injury. In the group stages Marseilles only conceded four goals in six matches. Last season, both Chelsea and Manchester United failed to score at Stade Velodrome.

So where is this heading? With Inter in disarray and Marseilles better at keeping clean sheets than scoring prolifically, a low scoreline home win looks advisable. The hosts are a best price 6/1 with Coral to win 1-0. The Italians wouldn’t necessarily be unhappy with that outcome in a two-legged contest, which only makes it more likely.