Deschamps, Marseille seek room at the top

Marseille coach Didier Deschamps has urged his side to build on recent momentum as they bid to go three points clear in the French top flight with victory over Rennes in a rescheduled game on Wednesday.

Defending champions Marseille go into the match on top of the table after a 4-0 thrashing of Montpellier on Saturday enabled them to inch above previous leaders Lille on goal difference.

The win at the weekend followed hot on the heels of a 3-0 defeat of Spartak Moscow in the Russian capital that sent OM into the Champions League last 16 for the first time since the 1999-2000 campaign.

Deschamps is eager to see the winning streak continue as the winter break approaches, but warned that nobody at the club was getting carried away.

“We’re not champions again because we have 25 points and we’re in first place,” he said.

“There’s been better stuff, progress, but there’s still a long way to go. We’ll be tested again on Wednesday against Rennes.

“It’s the opportunity to pick up a bonus and we’ll do the maximum to make sure it’s three points. Up to the break, we need to do what we can to pick up maximum points.”

Rennes led the table at the beginning of October but have since slipped to fifth, two points behind Marseille, after winning just once in their last seven league games.

Their latest setback was a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Brittany rivals Lorient and coach Frederic Antonetti has warned his side that they will not get away with the same mistakes at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome.

“It was the first time that we’d been so completely out of a game,” he said.

“There is progress to be made because when we’re confident, we aren’t able to string a series of results together.

“If we play like that on Wednesday against Marseille, there’ll be no point in going.”

Marseille’s demolition of Montpellier did not come without a cost, however, as the champions lost Spanish right-back Cesar Azpilicueta to a serious knee ligament injury that is likely to keep him out for the entire season.

Defensive midfielder Charles Kabore will deputise against Rennes, but Deschamps revealed that he hoped a decision would be made “this week” about whether OM will buy a long-term replacement in the January transfer window.

Marseille had been due to meet Rennes at the end of October, but the game was postponed twice due to a waterlogged pitch.

Saint-Etienne, 12th and without a win in seven league games, travel to 14th-placed Valenciennes in another re-arranged game on Wednesday.