France will look to maintain their 100% start in Group D as they welcome Azerbaijan to the Parc des Princes on Friday night.
France opened up their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 0-2 victory in neutral Poland against Ukraine, thanks to goals from Michael Olise and Kylian Mbappe on an evening where The Betting Desk saw both of his selections land.
Les Bleus followed up that victory three days later, as they came from a goal down to defeat Iceland 2-1 despite being reduced to 10 men after 68 minutes.
Azerbaijan, on the other hand, endured a nightmare start to their World Cup qualifying campaign, as they were thrashed 5-0 in Reykjavik by Iceland.
However, Aykhan Abbasov’s visitors did manage to get their first point of the campaign four days later, as they came from behind to claim a 1-1 draw at home to Ukraine.
How the bookies view it: France clear favourites
Unsurprisingly, France come into this clash as clear favourites to make it three wins from three in Group D, with BoyleSports pricing a home success at just 1/66.
Azerbaijan are a massive 40/1 with the same form to claim a shock victory, whilst the draw is also unfancied at 25/1.
Head to head: Two from two for Les Bleus
These two nations last met in qualification for Euro 1996, with France winning the first game 2-0 away from home, before thrashing Azerbaijan 10-0 in Auxerre in the reverse fixture.
Players to watch: More Olise magic?
Michael Olise has enjoyed an impressive start to the campaign for Bayern Munich, as he has already scored five times across his opening 10 appearances in all competitions.
The ex-Crystal Palace attacker has also scored in two of France’s previous three internationals – including the first in their group opener against Ukraine – and is a backable 4/5 at Skybet to get on the scoresheet on Friday night.
Predicted line-ups:
PSG trio Bradley Barcola, Ousmane Dembele, and Desire Doue will all be missing through injury, whilst Aurelien Tchouameni is suspended following his red card against Iceland.
Caretaker Azerbaijan boss Aykhan Abbasov is unable to call upon forward Nariman Akhundzade due to injury.
France: Maignan, Kounde, Konate, Upamecano, Hernandez, Thuram, Kone, Coman, Olise, Ekiteke, Mbappe
Azerbaijan: Magomedaliyev, Aliyev, Jafarguliyev, Krivotsyuk, Mustafazada, Badalov, Emreli, Makhmudov, Dadashov, Khaybulayev, Ahmedzadeh
Anything else catch the eye?
Didier Deschamps’s star-studded side has a few injuries to their attacking players, but they have more than enough depth in their squad to cope with Azerbaijan on Friday night.
I expect a routine win here, but with France such short favourites, it’s very hard to try to find value here, with a France Win to Nil paying only 4/9 at BoyleSports.
Both of Les Bleus’ opening qualifiers have featured fewer than five goals, and a repeat here pays an appealing 13/10 at BoyleSports.
GambleAware