Marseille vs Guingamp preview - Mandanda wants show of spirit

Skipper Steve Mandanda has demanded Marseille show the same spirit which kept them at the top of Ligue 1 for more than three months.

Marseille have started 2015 with back-to-back defeats, going out of the Coupe de France at the first hurdle to amateur club Grenoble and then slipping up 2-1 to Montpellier to lose the Ligue 1 leadership for the first time since September 20.

Lyon's comfortable victory over Toulouse last weekend took them a point clear of Marseille and earned Marcelo Bielsa's side a strong rebuke from France goalkeeper Mandanda.

"I have the impression that we're not playing with the same spirit," Mandanda told Ligue1.com ahead of Guingamp's visit to the Stade Velodrome on Sunday night.

"I don't know if we believed in December that we'd become champions come the end of the season, but we need to pick things up again quickly if we want to finish at the top because we could very quickly find ourselves distanced."

Marseille seek to produce some belated new year cheer by claiming a 10th straight home league victory but they must do so without Andre Ayew and Nicolas N'Koulou, who are both on international duty at the African Nations Cup.

"Andre Ayew and Nicolas N'Koulou are leaders," Marseille defender Benjamin Mendy told OMtv.

"It's the case whether in the dressing room or on the pitch.

"Nicolas' absence is more important to me as during matches he talks to me a lot and gives me advice, encourages me and corrects my positioning when necessary.

"But it could be a good thing for me as I'll have to mature and become more autonomous on the pitch."

Guingamp are no longer competing on four fronts after going out of the Coupe de la Ligue at the quarter-final stage on Wednesday, losing 2-0 to Monaco after having Christophe Mandanne sent off 10 minutes before half-time.

Jocelyn Gourvennec's 2014 Coupe de France winners had won seven games in eight in all competitions prior to the Monaco setback and are unbeaten in five matches in Ligue 1, winning four and drawing one in climbing off the bottom and into 13th position.

"It's not very original but we have not revised our ambitions upwards.," Gourvennec told Ligue1.com before last weekend's 2-0 win over Lens.

"On the contrary, the objective is to stay in Ligue 1 and to go as far as possible in the cups."