Massive game for the hosts who are bottom of Ligue 1, four points from safety and with three of their next four starts after this evening, on the road, including a trip to leaders PSG.

They showed signs of improvement before the mini break, with a win over Montpellier in the Cup, home point with St Etienne (should have won) and narrow defeat at Marseille , which we previewed.....

"I favour goals here, six of the last eight h2h meetings have gone "over" and the visitors have scored in six ( not the same six !) of those games. Marseille desperately need maximum points to stay in touch with the top three and at least extend their season into the second half of the campaign, but seem highly unlikely to be able to do so with a clean sheet , something they have not managed in seven starts. Today they are without right back Rod Fanni (10-0-1.... seven goals conceded in the last 3 starts he has missed) and on the other flank Jérémy Morel is in the squad, but has been struggling with injury all season and is not in the best of form. Also missing is suspended left winger André Ayew (10-2-2), he was named OM's player of the month for October and his defensive, as well as offensive contribution will be missed today and the hosts look vunerable down both flanks.

Sochaux have seen an upturn in form since Hervé Renard took charge of the squad a little over a month ago, especially offensively with two goals against Monaco, where they battled back from two down and three in a five goals thriller with Montpellier. Last time out they drew 0-0 with St Etienne, but that was far more open than the scoreline suggests and both teams were going at each other early, before the match was ruined as a spectacle with the sending off of a player for each team, which mean that they will miss suspended defender Petrus Boumal, but he has only played 163 minutes this season. a far bigger loss is central defender Carlão (9-1-1... conceded six in three without him).

Offensively, right winger Roy Contout (11-3-1) has been in very good form this season, all three of his goals have come away from home and with OM struggling on that side of the field today, he looks big at circa 6.0 in the anytime goalscorer market. Anyway, both teams with defensive issues, the visitors have shown a desire to attack under Renard and OM have to go all out for the points."

They get Carlão and Boumal ( see both above) back today which is great news and striker Cédric Bakambu (12-4-1 ... four goals in his last six starts) returns after being forced to sit out the trip to Marseille. It is not all good news as defensive midfielder Joseph Lopy (7-1-0) and centre back Lionel Zouma (7-0-0) are both suspended, but in terms of players in, for players out, a big +++ for the hosts.

Bastia are solid at home (5-1-0) and it is form on the island which will keep them in the top flight and anything gained on the road (0-2-5) viewed as a bonus. Something happens to them when they board the plane and it is hard to see too much different today, when they depart cool Corsica for freezing Sochaux where Winter has hit and we have had snow, rain and sub zero tempertaures this week and it will again be below freezing and feel colder, when this match kicks off this evening. They arrive without centre back Sébastien Squillaci, he was brought in to do a particular job and has done it well, but they have conceded six goals in the two matches he has sat out and I strongly favour Sochaux to get a much needed three points. 1.75 units Sochaux -0.25 ball 1.94-1.97 asian line/Ibramarket.

Sochaux:  Pouplin, Cros - Faussurier, Peybernes, Corchia, Kanté, Carlão, Boumal - Dias, Prcic, Eickmayer, Nogueira, Roudet, Doubaï, A. Camara, Poujol, Diallo - Bakambu, Contout, Mayuka.

Bastia : Mickaël Landreau, Thomas Vincensini, Gilles Cioni, Drissa Diakité, François Modesto, Féthi Harek, Julian Palmieri, Romaric, Yannick Cahuzac, Julien Sablé, Joseph Barbato, Ryad Boudebouz, Claudiu Keserü, Wahbi Khazri, Ilan, Milos Krasic, Adama Ba , Gianni Bruno.