Cody Gakpo had an excellent game against Poland, he netted the equaliser from distance and was a constant outlet all game. Despite failing to commit a foul, he generally sees an uptick in more competitive games, and should have a lot more defensive responsibility against France.

Gakpo made a foul in all five World Cup games in 2022, including four fouls against Argentina in the quarter-finals. He also made a foul in each of the Nations League knockout games against Croatia and Italy.

The Liverpool winger can have a tendency to be overly aggressive in his press, something which he might find himself doing a lot against France. He will be stationed on the left-wing, potentially contesting duels against Ousmane Dembele, who drew two fouls against Austria. He has drawn two or more fouls in each of his last five games for France, so that is certainly a matchup to keep an eye on.

Rabiot is perhaps an underrated cog in Deschamps’ system, and was crucial to their run to the final in the 2022 World Cup. He started five games, and made a foul in all five at the World Cup. Since then, he has started nine games for Les Bleus, and committed a foul in eight of those across Euro qualifiers, friendlies and round one of the Euros. In that time, Rabiot has made a foul in both head-to-head games against Netherlands in the qualifying stages.

Xavi Simons is set to operate in a similar zone that Rabiot will defend – inverting centrally from the right-wing. Simons is one of the most fouled players in the Dutch squad, averaging 1.13 fouls drawn per game across qualifying.

Marcus Thuram and Kylian Mbappe occupied centre forward and left-wing positions interchangeably against Austria, although Thuram was more consistently on the wing when Giroud replaced Mbappe.

Despite failing to score, Thuram managed the most shots for France in the match, with five attempts, two of which were on target. With Mbappe ruled out of this clash, there is a lot of responsibility on the other French forwards to fill the gap left by his absence – Thuram should shoulder an increased attacking responsibility.

Thuram managed a shot on target in both head-to-head games against the Dutch in the qualifying stages, despite featuring off the bench on one occasion. It’s an opportunity for Thuram now to step up to the plate without Mbappe, and look to cement his place in the France team going forward.

Despite falling out of favour domestically for Inter Milan, Denzel Dumfries has been a mainstay under Ronald Koeman at right back. His foul record is remarkable – Dumfries has committed a foul in 22 consecutive games for Netherlands, with two or more fouls in 17 of those. That run extends all the way back to March 2022. In that time, he has faced off against France once, and made two fouls in a 62-minute appearance before being subbed.

Austria were forced into making 18 fouls against France in matchday one, right back Stefan Posch made two of those. He was perhaps unlucky to escape with just two, as the referee played the advantage on a couple of occasions. Dumfries will be busy against Theo Hernandez and Marcus Thuram, so infringements are on the agenda.

With Koopmeiners and Frenkie de Jong out for Netherlands, Tijjani Reijnders is perhaps the most experienced campaigner in the Dutch midfield.

Alongside PSV duo Joey Veerman and Jerdy Schouten, Reijnders picked up very advanced positions against Poland, accumulating four shots in total. Netherlands are certainly a bit light in the centre of the park – Koeman listed just two midfielders on the bench against Poland, Wijnaldum and Gravenberch. That means Reijnders is likely to be granted a significant number of minutes.

Austria managed just six shots against France, although Les Bleus were not particularly watertight. Baumgartner, who will occupy a similar role to Reijnders, wasted a massive chance early on, and managed two shots in total. With increased attacking responsibility, this price looks bulky.

Despite just having six shots, Austria forced Mike Maignan into three saves. As mentioned, Les Bleus were dominant on the ball, but Austria certainly had their chances, and Maignan was important.

In the other Group D game, Netherlands managed 21 shots, although most were quite speculative, amounting to just 1.46 xGF. If Netherlands persist with their hopeful longshots, especially without a real clinical goalscorer, Mike Maignan could be tasked with some relatively simple stops.

Looking into the head-to-head data from the recent Nations League, Mike Maignan made five saves in Paris, and exactly three saves in Amsterdam for the reverse fixture. The data looks fantastic here, odds against for three saves looks real value.