France will be looking to book their place in the knockout stages of the World Cup with victory over Denmark at Stadium 974 on Saturday evening.
The French came from behind to beat Australia 4-1 in their Group D opener on Tuesday night. Goals from Adrien Rabiot, Kylian Mbappe and a brace from Olivier Giroud sealed the comfortable win after Craig Goodwin had given Australia a shock early lead.
Didier Deschamps side were not at their best for much of the game but still eased to a comfortable victory, so the reigning World Champions should be in confident mood heading into this one. Another win on Saturday will guarantee progression to the knockout stages, while France could also seal top spot if the groups other game also ends in a draw.
Denmark on the other hand will be hoping to get back to winning ways after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Tunisia in their group opener. That result leaves them needing a positive result against France or they risk missing out on qualification to the knockouts if Tunisia beat Australia on Saturday afternoon.
Betting odds
The Nordic nations will be hoping for an upset this weekend but a casino in Iceland can’t price Denmark as favourites to beat the current World Champions.
France are currently backed as the 4/5 favourites to claim victory in this match while the Danes are at odds of 15/4 to go away with all three points. The draw can be backed at 13/5 if you think the spoils will be shared.
France are expected to ease to victory and a 2-0 win is on offer at odds of 7/1. Giroud only needs one more goal to become France’s all-time top goalscorer and the former Arsenal striker is 4/1 to open the scoring against Denmark.
If we back Giroud to score first in a 2-0 France win, the odds increase to 27/1.
Team news
France will once again be without Karim Benzema after he was ruled out of the World Cup through injury. Left-back Lucas Hernandez is also out with a cruciate ligament injury that he sustained against Australia so brother Theo Hernandez is set to come in.
Man Utd centre-back Raphael Varane is pushing for a recall after returning to full fitness so Liverpool star Ibrahima Konate may drop to the bench.
As for Denmark, Thomas Delaney is out with a knee injury so Mikkel Damsgaard and Jesper Lindstrom are pushing for recalls.
Prediction
France are the joint second favourites behind Brazil to win the 2022 World Cup and if they have ambitions to retain the trophy, they need to be beating sides like Denmark. The Danes will no doubt give a good account of themselves and they desperately need a positive result, but we can’t see past a routine France win. France 2-0 Denmark
