It is a battle of old rivals as Nigeria face Cameroon in the round of 16 of the Africa Cup of Nations. Neither team has been at their best in Cote D’Ivoire and as they look evenly matched at the moment, a closely fought encounter could be expected on Saturday.
Nigeria have not been at their best at this year’s AFCON, although the good news is that they are yet to taste defeat so far. Jose Peseiro’s men reached the round of 16 after claiming two wins and a draw to finish second in Group A.
Despite being blessed with plenty of attacking talent, The Super Eagles are yet to flex their muscles having scored just once in each of their matches. The good news is that they appear solid at the back, keeping clean sheets their last two matches.
Nigeria will head into Saturday’ round of 16 clash off the back of a 1-0 victory over Guinea Bissau in their final group stage fixture. Opa Sangante’s unfortunate first half own-goal proved to be the difference as they held on for the win.
Cameroon needed a dramatic late win over Gambia to secure a place in Saturday’s clash. They were 2-1 down with five minutes to go after Karl Toko-Ekambi’s effort was cancelled out but rallied back for the win thanks to an own-goal from James Gomez and Christopher Wooh’s injury time winner.
That was the first win in the tournament for Cameroon, who have also not been at their best so far. Rigobert Song’s men had begun with a 1-1 draw with Guinea before suffering a 3-1 defeat to defending champions Senegal.
While Nigeria have struggled in attack, the goals have flowed freely for Cameroon as they have scored five goals in the competition. However, the trade off is that they have looked vulnerable at the back, failing to keep a single clean sheet so far.
How the bookies view it
Nigeria have the upper hand among the bookies and are priced at 6/5 by Unibet to claim the win. A victory for Cameroon is valued at 3/1 by BoyleSports while William Hill is offering odds of 21/10 for a draw.
Recent head to head
Nigeria have the upper hand in recent meetings, picking up four wins from the last six matches while Cameroon have been victorious just once. Both teams played out a 0-0 draw in a friendly back in 2021.
Players to watch
Despite struggling for goals so far, Nigeria will be keen to take advantage of Cameroon’s defensive problems. Napoli striker Victor Osimhen remains the biggest attacking threat for the Super Eagles and is priced at 2/1 by Unibet to get on the score sheet.
Having scored in every game so far, Cameroon will be confident of opening up the Nigerian defence. Karl Toko-Ekambi got off the mark last time out and is priced at 4/1 with bet365 to find the net on Saturday.
Anything else catch the eye?
With Nigeria and Cameroon likely to get past each other’s defence, both teams could be backed to score at 6/5 with Paddy Power. The Cameroonians have seen over 3.5 goals in their last two matches and a repeat is priced at 23/5 with Unibet, who is also offering odds of 17/10 for over 2.5 goals.
There have been halftime draws in two of Nigeria’s three matches so far and Saturday’s clash could be set to follow a similar pattern at 10/11 with William Hill.
This African Nations Cup match between Nigeria and Cameroon will be played on Jan 27, 2024 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Nigeria vs Cameroon prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
I’m on BTTS 5-4 👍