Jordan Ayew is becoming an important substitute for Marseille
Marseille youngster Jordan Ayew is confident that his side can stay in the title race when they travel to Lens – one of France’s best-supported sides – on Sunday.
The 19-year-old has made just one start in his 13 league appearances for Didier Deschamps’ side this season but his determined performance to set up Lucho Gonzalez for the clincher in Marseille’s 2-0 win over rivals Rennes in Week 27 showed that he has the character to make a valuable contribution to his side’s title defence.
This strength of purpose was also on view as the younger brother of Ghana World Cup star and OM teammate André Ayew spoke about playing in front of some of France’s most fervent supporters at Lens’ Stade Bollaert on Sunday night.
It will be les Sang-et-Or’s first home game since their shock 4-1 win in Montpellier revived their hopes of top-flight survival and the atmosphere promises to be electric.
“I’ve never played at the Bollaert before, and I’m not exactly sure what it will be like,” he told Football365.fr.
“I’ve heard that the fans there are pretty full-on. They need points, and so do we. It’ll be a tough match but one we absolutely have to win.”
While Ayew recognises that with their current ranking of second, Marseille are on track to achieve their season objective of a Champions League place, he knows that they cannot afford to rest on their laurels in one of Europe’s most hotly contested championships.
“We’re going there to get the three points; we’re all super-motivated to get a good result,” he continued. “I’m convinced that we can do it and it’s up to us not to slip up and to win all our remaining matches.”
