Marseille, on three straight wins, host Toulouse, unbeaten away, with the Virage Nord shut

Marseille can win a fourth straight league game when they host Toulouse at the Vélodrome on Sunday (20:45), but for the second and last time the stadium's Virage Nord stand will be empty. The league's disciplinary commission shut it for two matches over flares and abusive chants during PSG's 2-1 win in Marseille on 20 September. “It is always hard to win two home games in a row, especially without the Virage Nord,” Marseille coach Bruno Genesio said on Friday. “Football without supporters is not the same football.”

What is at stake

Going into matchday 9, Marseille are 8th on 12 points (four wins, four defeats) and Toulouse 11th on 10 (two wins, four draws, two defeats). A win would take Marseille to 15, the total of third-placed Lille and fourth-placed Monaco, and Toulouse to 13, level with seventh-placed Lens.

Form

Marseille's recent run has come with goals: their 18 are level with Rennes for the best attack in Ligue 1, and they won 2-0 at Troyes, 5-2 at Angers and 4-3 against Le Havre. That last game ended nervously. Marseille led 4-0 after 55 minutes, then conceded in the 77th, 86th and 89th. Asked about the closing stages, Genesio said the team had “thought of a plan B”, adding: “There are things to put in place, tactically and mentally.”

Toulouse arrive unbeaten in five (two wins, three draws) and have not lost any of their four away games, although only one was a win: 3-0 at Le Mans on 16 October. Last Sunday they drew 0-0 at home to Troyes. After the Le Mans win, Toulouse coach Jens Berthel Askou said his side had been the league's best team in the final 45 minutes of matches, at home and away. Genesio called Toulouse “one of the best teams in our championship” and expects “a good test for us”.

Team news

Genesio said Marseille's Amine Gouiri is absent “for personal reasons” and that he preferred to let him rest, and that his team-mate Bamo Meïté was ill overnight. Genesio also insisted that sending Keyliane Abdallah to the reserves is “not a sanction”. After the Le Havre game the coach had criticised the attitude of two young substitutes, Abdallah and Nouhoum Kamissoko.

For Toulouse, defender Rafik Messali, who hurt his thigh against Troyes, is expected to miss several weeks, according to LesViolets as relayed by Le Phocéen. Sweden Under-21 international Sion Oppong, who scored off the bench against Monaco, is back in collective training after a calf injury, but his place in Sunday's squad is uncertain. Goalkeeper Mathys Niflore, the back-up to Guillaume Restes, is training again after a knee injury. Those updates date from Wednesday.