The world champions France will look to make it through to the Euro 2020 quarter finals on Monday evening when they take on one of the best third placed finishers in the form of Switzerland out in Bucharest.
The winner of this match will meet the winner of the earlier game in the quarter finals with France looking to get there for the second successive time after making the final in 2016. This is rarefied air for the Swiss outfit.
Where to watch
As with the earlier match in the day, this match will be shown live in full on the ITV1 channel for us in the UK. The build-up will begin after the analysis of the previous one has concluded around 7.15pm. It is an 8pm kick off.
France
We’ve seen this film play before. France weren’t particularly appealing in the group stage but did enough to win their group and then if this is to be a repeat of 2016 and 2018 they will come alive now that it really matters. To be fair to them, to come out on top of the group with Germany and Portugal without playing their best stuff suggests that when their best form does come out they are going to be incredibly hard to stop.
You always look for weaknesses in a side as to why they could come unstuck and I guess if you were being very harsh you could make a case for them not being quite as good as they were previously in defence. They more than make up for that in the heart of the pitch and even more so in attacking areas. The best thing that happened to them in the group stage was that Karim Benzema found the back of the net. That will silence his doubters enough for him to flourish.
Switzerland
I didn’t think much to Switzerland in the group stages I have to admit but they did enough to come through courtesy of a win in their final match against Turkey. They were in a pretty average group it has to be said and I think that was highlighted by the beating that Wales took in the knockout stages and even how troubled Italy were. If we were using pure form lines on the tournament so far you would suggest the Swiss have plenty to find on the ratings.
What Switzerland do have going for them is a couple of potential individual match-winners in Xherdan Shaqiri and Breel Embolo and if they can get in the areas to make a difference they could cause a problem. A far bigger concern would be whether they have enough strength in defence to repel a French attack that is capable of coming at them from all angles. It will be interesting to see how brave Switzerland are prepared to be in the match.
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Team News
Injuries are beginning to mount up for the French in this tournament. Lucas Digne and Marcus Thuram are both out of this match while Ousmane Dembele is done for the tournament. Lucas Hernandez and Thomas Lemar are both doubts.
Switzerland are understood to have no fresh injury concerns so unless they want to switch formations they might well decide to go in with the team which ended up dismantling Turkey in the end.
Betting
I don’t see a way in which Switzerland can win this game. There might be a weakness in the French defence but I’m not sure Switzerland are the team to exploit it although I wouldn’t want to be sitting on France to win to nil and see them concede a free kick which Xhaka or Shaqiri so something with. The French haven’t clicked into gear in attacking areas just yet which is a concern when taking the bigger handicaps but the Asian lines offer up some potential.
You can get France on a -0.75 Asian line so if they do end up winning the game by the odd goal we win half our bet. If they do hit their stride in the attacking areas and pull clear and win by two or more then we win the full amount. I’d rather be on this line until France do start convincing in front of goal as a 1-0 win looms as too much of a danger to be betting on anything else. I hope it is more convincing as I need French goals for an outright bet but however France do it a French win means we win here.
Tips
Back France (-0.75AH) to beat Switzerland for a 3/10 stake at 1.84 with Bet365
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