Zinedine Zidane will be looking to secure his first home win on his second attempt, after his France side squandered their lead against Italy to draw. Belgium go into the match with a weakened line-up due to suspensions, so Les Bleus cannot afford to slip up.
France were on course for a third consecutive victory following another goal from Michael Olise, but Alessandro Bastoni had other ideas. Nevertheless, Les Bleus remain unbeaten in the group and are on course for another appearance in the play-offs.
Given that they have suffered just one defeat in an official home match over the last three years, everything points to a positive result and finishing the international break at the top of the group.
Belgium returned to winning ways with a classic 3-0 victory over Turkey, although it was far from their best performance in terms of play. As a result, they will now travel to Paris without their key midfield duo.
Kevin De Bruyne and Youri Tielemans were both shown yellow cards and will miss this match due to accumulated yellows. Given that three of Belgium’s five goals so far have come through them, this will make the Red Devils’ task much more difficult.
How the bookies view it: Les Bleus with a heavy advantage
Bookmakers are expecting an even stronger performance from the hosts and Zinedine Zidane’s first home win. At the moment, you can back France at around 11/20, whilst Belgium are available at 9/2. If you’re interested in a draw, you can back that at 15/4.
Recent head-to-head: Most competitive European rivalry?
With last week’s victory, France have now recorded six consecutive wins over Belgium, keeping a clean sheet in four of those matches. This highlights just how significant Les Bleus’ recent dominance has been.
But it hasn’t always been this way over the years; with this victory, both nations now have 30 wins each in this rivalry. They have also drawn 19 times over the years. So Belgium haven’t always been outclassed by France; in fact, until last week, they led the all-time head-to-head record.
Players to watch: Senne Lammens is a wall
Although Belgium are generally in good form, there is a specific reason why they have conceded so few goals, and that reason is Senne Lammens. It is no coincidence that the Manchester United goalkeeper is the highest-rated player in the squad after the first three matches.
In each of the three matches, he made 5+ saves, totalling 19, and conceded just one goal – against France, following Michael Olise’s phenomenal run.
In this match, we expect France to apply even greater pressure, which, in my view, makes 4+ saves at 1/2 a brilliant option.
Probable line-ups
France: Maignan, Truffert, Lacroix, Jacquet, Kalulu, Camavinga, Da Cunha, Olise, Cherki, Barcola, Dembele
Belgium: Lammens, De Cuyper, Mechele, Ngoy, Castagne, Lavia, Raskin, Godts, Vanaken, Moreira, De Ketelaere
Anything else catch the eye?
Zinedine Zidane is making quite a few changes to the line-up, but his main strikers remain the same. Michael Olise is in the form of his life and will certainly capitalise on the gaps in the centre.
In my view, it will be much harder for Belgium to hold Les Bleus at bay in Paris, and we’re likely to see a scoreline of more than 1-0 this time round. You should never write off the Red Devils, but in this particular case, the odds seem stacked against them.
GambleAware