With the away section empty and parts of the Nantes support carrying out a silent protest in the opening half-hour, a subdued atmosphere provided an uncomfortable backdrop for a meeting between two out-of-form sides.
Les Canaris had the better of the first half, with Deiver Machado particularly dangerous down the left. It was therefore a big blow when the Colombian full-back was forced off injured, and not until the 33rd minute was there a shot on target.
Nantes had it, but Jeffrey de Lange was equal to Remy Cabella’s effort after he was fed by Matthis Abline.
A dangerous Nantes breakaway saw the Marseille goalkeeper called into action again moments later, making a fine save to keep out Mohamed Kaba to ensure honours remained even at half-time.
Given that the hosts had netted a league-low 10 second-half goals this term, their chances of keeping that dominance up appeared slim. However, they rattled in three goals in the space of eight minutes before the hour to comprehensively seal just their third home league victory of the campaign.
The barrage started when Ignatius Ganago swept home from Abline’s cutback, before the striker turned provider to pick out Cabella, who scored against his former club for the second time this season.
The shell-shocked visitors were still licking their wounds when Abline produced a moment of outstanding quality, cutting in from the right and dribbling between Facundo Medina and Leandro Balerdi before rifling home just his sixth Ligue 1 goal of the season.
Marseille’s response was muted to say the least, with a fifth failure to win from their last six league outings leaving them vulnerable to being replaced in the top six by Monaco later in the weekend and highly unlikely to secure a top-four finish and Champions League football.
Nantes, meanwhile, move to within two points of the relegation play-off places thanks to a first H2H home win since December 2018.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Matthis Abline (Nantes)