Arsenal record on the line against in-form Marseille

Olympique de Marseille have maximum points in Group F and have not conceded a goal in their two games but will be on their guard against an Arsenal FC side who have never lost away to a French club.

• On matchday one a determined Marseille claimed a 1-0 victory against Olympiacos FC in Piraeus thanks to Lucho González's 51st-minute goal.

• Two weeks later Didier Deschamps' team produced a counterattacking masterclass to see off Borussia Dortmund at home, André Ayew scoring twice, the second a penalty, and Loïc Rémy getting the other despite Jordan Ayew's late red card.

• Robin van Persie gave Arsenal the lead in Dortmund on 13 September but a late equaliser denied the Gunners victory. Success did come on matchday two, when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain celebrated his UEFA Champions League debut with the opener against Olympiacos. André Santos scored the goal that ultimately secured Arsenal's 2-1 win.

Match background
• Although this is the sides' first meeting, Marseille have seen plenty of English opposition recently. Last season they faced Chelsea FC in the group stage, winning 1-0 at Stade Vélodrome on matchday six. That arrested a negative trend for the Ligue 1 club who, after six straight home wins against English opposition, lost to Liverpool FC in the 2007/08 and 2008/09 group stages.

• They faced Manchester United FC in the 2010/11 round of 16, drawing 0-0 at home before losing 2-1 away. OM's home record against visitors from England now reads W7 D1 L2.

• Arsenal have not had an away game in France since 2002/03, when they won 1-0 at AJ Auxerre in the UEFA Champions League first group stage. They also won on their previous two visits and in seven games have won four and drawn three.

• The Gunners faced FC Barcelona in Paris in the 2006 UEFA Champions League final, going down 2-1.

• Arsenal reached the UEFA Champions League group stage for the 14th season in a row via a play-off victory against Udinese Calcio, the fifth time in six campaigns they have come through a qualifying round.

• Last season Arsenal reached the round of 16 where they went down 4-3 on aggregate to eventual champions Barcelona. It was the 11th successive season they had made it through the group and the first time since 2006/07 they had failed to reach the quarter-finals or better.

• Arsenal have lost six of their last eight away games in the competition proper, their only success coming on matchday two last season when they won at FK Partizan.

• Marseille are in their fifth successive participation in the competition and eighth in all. Last season they finished second in their pool, losing 1-0 at home to FC Spartak Moskva but then beating both MŠK Žilina and Chelsea 1-0 at the Stade Vélodrome.

• Although they have won their last three UEFA Champions League matches in southern France, in OM's last 17 home fixtures in the competition proper they have only won seven with seven defeats.

Team ties
• Sébastien Squillaci played under Didier Deschamps for AS Monaco FC in 2003/04 as the Principality club reached the UEFA Champions League final before losing to FC Porto.

• The injured Bacary Sagna and Abou Diaby are team-mates of Steve Mandanda, Alou Diarra, André-Pierre Gignac, Rémy and Mathieu Valbuena for France while Laurent Koscielny is a recent addition to the squad. Alex Song and Nicolas N'Koulou are team-mates for Cameroon.

• While at FC Girondins de Bordeaux, Marouane Chamakh lost the French League Cup final 3-1 against OM on 27 March 2010. In 14 league meetings against the same opponents he scored four times and featured on the winning side on five occasions.

• Gervinho played seven league games against Marseille with Le Mans FC (two seasons from 2007/08) and LOSC Lille Métropole (two seasons from 2009/10) and failed to score, although he was twice on the winning side with Lille.

• Park Ju-Young scored twice against Marseille in three seasons with Monaco, winning one of four league games.

• In 2000/01 and 2001/02, Mikel Arteta played for Paris Saint-Germain FC, twice facing OM but winning neither game.

• Jérémy Morel and Francis Coquelin were team-mates at FC Lorient last season duting the latter's loan spell.