Two more groups of the FIFA World Cup will conclude on Wednesday and in the afternoon it is the turn of Group D, where the defending champions France will be looking to go through with maximum points when they take on Tunisia.
Tunisia go into this match with one point from their two matches and know they have to win this one to stay alive and hope Denmark don’t win their match by more goals. France have already topped the group and can prepare for the knockout stage.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the BBC 1 channel in the UK with the build-up to it beginning at 2.30pm and kick off taking place at 3pm.
Tunisia
I don’t think we’ve seen anything from Tunisia in this tournament that has surprised us but we might need to see something different if they are going to remain in the competition. They have kept hold of the ball well and matched both Denmark and Australia from a physical point of view but they have let themselves down with a lack of creativity and just having nothing to provide them with a goal on the few occasions they have got into a good area.
Their opening draw with Denmark, while not being a fantastic game to watch, offered them some hope of escaping the group but they couldn’t find the back of the net against Australia and suffered a defeat which will surely put themselves out of the tournament. Tunisia haven’t scored in their opening two matches and the very least they need to do here is score else they are going home. The problem they have is the more they push for goals the more prone they are going to be to a rampant France attack on the counter. The only good thing is they know they have to win so the minds can be clear on that.
France
I think if we are judging all the teams after two matches then based on how they have performed in each of them France have been the best in the tournament so far. That isn’t to say they don’t have weaknesses and things to work on, but for what they have offered in both matches they have set the standards. Their reward for that is that they are guaranteed to be group winners and they can approach this match however they wish.
It might be that Didier Deschamps takes this opportunity to rest some of his stars given that we are in the middle of a hectic season, but at the same time he might ask them to go again to build up more continuity given the injuries that have decimated them. One thing he will need to do as the tournament goes on is find a way to protect his back four because two largely gun shy sides have created numerous chances against them which would be a concern, albeit only a slight one given that this lot can outscore anyone when they fancy the job.
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Team News
Tunisia have reported a fully fit squad to choose from for this match. With them having to win the game it is expected that star man Wahbi Khazri is going to make his first start of the tournament in a more attacking XI.
France coach Didier Deschamps is expected to make as many as seven changes to his starting XI although Golden Boot contender Kylian Mbappe is likely to keep his place in the team as he chases that honour. Marcus Thuram and Kingsley Coman are among those expected to come in.
Betting
This is one of those matches I’m not a fan of because the heavy favourites are going to rest a lot of players and probably don’t have too much in the way of motivation but there are question marks over whether the outsiders are good enough to take advantage. Tunisia are yet to score in the competition but they haven’t exactly set their stall out to do it. That is clearly going to have to change here but whether that yields goals remains to be seen.
It does mean that Tunisia are going to have to throw men forward in this match and we can at least look to take advantage of that. One man who has done a lot of shooting for Tunisia is Youssef Msakni. He has had nine shots over the course of the two matches, three against Denmark and six against Australia and I expect him to be and around the box throughout this contest. Two of those efforts against Australia hit the target so the 7/5 on him to do that again here looks big. He is going to be a central attacking presence throughout this match so that price on him to hit the target looks big.
Tips
Back Y.Msakni – Over 0.5 shots on target for a 2/10 stake at 2.40 with William Hill
Back him here:
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