Stakes are high for French derby

SOUTH COAST derbies between French sides Monaco and Marseille are always a tightly contested affair - with the stakes arguably even higher than usual this season.

Both sides go into the fixture with something to prove. After a bright start, Didier Deschamps’s Monaco have taken their expensively-shod feet off the pedal in October. Last season’s Champions League runners-up turn out at the Velodrome against last term’s UEFA Cup finalists seeking to end a four-match winless run.

For Marseille, one point behind Monaco in fifth place, victory over their Mediterranean neighbours would supply them with a huge fillip in their bid to go one better than last year and seize the first division crown from Lyon.