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France v Belgium
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Kick Off: Monday 9th September at 19:45
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Competition: Nations League
France and Belgium do battle in a blockbuster Nations League clash at the Groupama Stadium in Lyon on Monday night. Didier Deschamps’ side already find themselves on the back foot in Group A2 after slumping to a 3-1 defeat at home to Italy on Friday night. As for Belgium, they made light work of Israel with a 3-1 success in their opening fixture of the campaign on Friday.
Despite the pair’s contrasting results on matchday one, France are firm 1.73 favourites to rebound with a win over the Red Devils on Monday night.
France v Belgium Best Bets
Both teams to score has been priced up at 1.87 on Monday night and those odds hold plenty of appeal. France have shipped five goals across their last two matches so they could struggle to shut out a Belgium side that will have restored some confidence with their 3-1 win over Israel. Having said that, the Red Devils’ failure to keep the back door shut against Israel doesn’t augur well for a fixture with a French side stacked with firepower. What’s more, Domenico Tedesco’s side also failed to silence their opponents in two of their four outings at Euro 2024, one of which was against France. On top of this, each team has obliged in eight of Belgium’s last 10 Nations League matches, while the same bet would have also paid out in seven of France’s last 10 outings in this particular competition.
On a similar line of reasoning to the above, over 2.5 goals also merits consideration at 1.9 on Betfair. While the latest Nations League campaign is still in its infancy, France can ill-afford another setback on Monday night, meaning they will have to force the issue at some point. However, Belgium possesses the tools to be effective on the counter-attack, so they could expose a French backline whose defensive standards have slipped across their last two matches. Each of Les Bleus’ last two outings have produced over 2.5 goals, as have five of their last seven matches on home soil. Furthermore, five of Belgium’s seven away games in the lead-up to Euro 2024 featured over 2.5 goals, further suggesting there is potential for a goal-heavy game at the Groupama Stadium on Monday night.
📂 France v Belgium Cheat Sheet
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📊 France Form and Stats
France came in for a lot of criticism at Euro 2024 for a string of lacklustre performances. They made heavy weather of a group they were expected to win and then laboured badly against both Belgium and Portugal to stumble their way through to the semi-final stage. Eventual tournament winners Spain proved too strong for Les Bleus at that juncture, claiming a deserved 2-1 win to progress to the final. What made France’s run to the last four all the more perplexing was the fact they scored just once from open play across their six assignments.
It would be fair to say that Friday night’s 3-1 defeat at home Italy will have done little to lift the mood in the French camp or with their supporters. Deschamps’ side mustered up a mere three shots on target against a far from vintage Italian side, with just one of those efforts coming from star man Kylian Mbappe.
The French skipper also failed to light up Euro 2024, though it wasn’t for the want of trying. No player attempted more shots on goal at the summer showpiece than the French superstar, who racked up a tournament-high 24 efforts. Nine of those shots worked the goalkeeper, yet only one hit the back of the net, which was a penalty against Poland on matchday three.
One positive for France on Friday night was Bradley Barcola bagging his first goal for his country. The French forward has been in fine form for PSG over the opening three weeks of the Ligue 1 season, netting four times in three appearances. It’s also worth noting that the 22-year-old has averaged 3.33 shots on target per-game in the French top-flight this term to date.
📊 Belgium Form and Stats
Belgium underwhelmed at Euro 2024 and can consider themselves fortunate not to have suffered a shock early exit. The Red Devils were on the wrong end of the first big upset of the tournament, losing 1-0 to Slovakia on matchday one in Group E. Domenico Tedesco’s team then steadied the ship with a 2-0 win over Romania before playing out a nerve-shredding 0-0 draw with Ukraine to sneak through in second place. As already mentioned, that is where Belgium’s Euro 2024 journey came to an end, as they were then edged out 1-0 by France.
However, any potential Euro 2024 hangover has already proven to be pretty short-lived, with Belgium getting their Nations League campaign off to a comfortable start with a 3-1 win over Israel on Friday night. The Belgians dominated proceedings in their Group A2 opener, enjoying 64% possession and winning the shot count 25-10.
Unsurprisingly, Kevin De Bruyne was the star of the show for the Red Devils on Friday night, getting on the scoresheet twice. The Belgium captain has also made a strong start to the new Premier League season with club side Man City, scoring one and setting up another across his opening three appearances thus far.
De Bruyne’s compatriot and City teammate Jeremy Doku was Belgium’s most fouled player at Euro 2024, earning his side eight free-kicks. It’s worth noting that five of those fouls on Doku came against France when the two sides faced off in the knockout round. Doku has since been fouled three times against Israel. Expect the Belgian livewire to cause Les Bleus’ backline more problems on Monday night.
⚔️ France v Belgium Head-to-Head
The two nations came up against each other in the round of 16 at Euro 2024 earlier this year. It was France who came out on top on that occasion, with a late own goal by Jan Vertonghen proving decisive. That was Les Bleus’ third straight win over the Red Devils, who they also defeated 3-2 at the semi-final stage in the second-ever edition of the Nations League, not to mention they also claimed top honours when the two sides met at the semi-final stage of the 2018 World Cup.
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* I recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets.
* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.
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