Gignac: OM is the Club of my Heart aka the OM-Toulouse Match Preview

By: Sarah | October 30th, 2009

Match Background

Gignac has already admitted the game this weekend against Marseille will be a “special” moment.

For those who don’t know anything about Gignac beyond his impressive scoring ability, he was born in Martigues, a town outside of Marseille, which explains why the game has special significance for the guy.

“It’s always been a special match for me,” Gignac told France Football.

“All my friends and family will be there, and the Velodrome has a strange magic.”

For more Gignac sentimentalism (though in French) check out this video on the OM website.

But, don’t expect Gignac to have stars in his eyes or roll over– after all he has a legacy to protect. He has never lost to OM. Last year he even managed to score a double and he scored the game winning goal against OM with Lorient three years ago.

But, don’t get too cocky Gignac– lets not pretend that things are the same as last year or three years ago. This year, OM is fifth in the league (with a game less played) versus Toulouse’s current 11th place in the table. Gignac, who has been prolific for the France national team, has only managed to score twice in 10 games this season for Toulouse. He has also been nursing a groin injury this season, which has slowed his scoring. His injury appears to be healing, and when he described his progress as “on track. Not so long ago I even had trouble walking. Now I have no pain – not when I walk or when I run or when I strike the ball.”

Team Form

TEAM STAT COMPARISON
	Marseille	Toulouse
Matches Played	9	10
Table Position	5	11
Points	17	14
Goal Difference	7	3
Goals for *	1.5	0.8
Goals against *	1.0	0.8
Last 5	W-L-L-W-W	W-W-L-L-W
Last 5 home	L-W-D-W	W-L-W-L-W
Last 5 away	W-L-W-D-W	W-L-D-D-L
* Goals per match – home matches for home club and away matches for away club

Table courtesy of ESPN.com

Toulouse will be looking to extend their two-game winning streak after victories at home to Paris St Germain and at Lens. Their form has been good recently in the league as they have only lost once in five games. Ironically, they managed to beat Lyon and PSG, but lost to Lorient. Though, Lorient have been great thus far this season and PSG, well…do I really need to say?

Marseille return to Ligue 1 action after their previous game with PSG was cancelled because of swine flu. Before that cancellation, their domestic performance was mixed. They had a great victory against Nancy and Montpellier, but had struggled against Monaco, Valenciennes and Le Mans.

Last Five Matches in Competition
Marseille	Toulouse
@AS Nancy Lorraine 0-3	@Lens 0-2
AS Monaco 1-2	Paris Saint-Germain 1-0
@Valenciennes 3-2	Lorient 0-1
Montpellier 4-2	@Lyon 2-1
@Le Mans 1-2	Le Mans 2-0

Table courtesy of ESPN.com

Team News

OM: Deschamps will have to make due tomorrow without one of his key players, Benoit Cheyrou. Even though Cheyrou’s injury is not serious, he will probably not want to risk him ahead of the game against Zurich on Tuesday or risk making the injury worse ahead of their congested November schedule. Julien Rodriguez is still nursing an injury that will most likely take him out of Deschamp’s plans for the next three months because of a knee problem and Cyril Rool is still absent because of ankle damage. The latter two players– though talented– are less of a worry because we have demonstrated that we can win without them. Cheyrou, though, is a potentially devastating loss.

Toulouse: Coach Casanova looks to have a full squad to choose from this weekend– no significant injuries have been mentioned in the press other than Gignac’s which was discussed above.

Expected Lineups

OM: Mandanda,Taiwo, Bonnart, Heinze, Diawara, Mbia, Valbuena, Lucho, Niang, Brandao, Kone

Toulouse: Pele, Nounkeu, Congre, M’Benque, Ebondo, Machado, Sissoko, Capoue, Tabanou, Braathen, Gignac

Prediction:

OM win 2-1. Having not played last weekend, we have the luxury of being rested (hopefully the players have managed to avoid getting caught up in the drama and are not fatigued). I don’t think that the weekend off is a decisive advantage, but I think it could play a role. Sissoko has been extremely impressive this season and I predict the result of this game will hinge on how OM cope with him. But, even without Cheyrou, I think OM can pull off this win. Our defense (though admittedly shake at times) is better equipped to cope with Toulouse compared to last year, and having Kone back should really relieve the pressure on Niang to score all the time.