The 2022/23 UEFA Nations League group stage will reach its climax over the next two weeks and on the 22nd of September, France will meet Austria at the Stade de France.
This is a match in League A, Group 1 of the competition and as things stand after 4 rounds, France are bottom of the group on 2 points, while Austria are in 3rd place on 4 points.
It is fair to say France have been below their best in this Nations League campaign. They have played 4 matches in the competition and have yet to pick up a victory, which is poor for a team that won the previous edition of the tournament.
France started their Nations League campaign with a 2-1 defeat at home by Denmark and they have failed to recover from that disappointing start. The French have picked up draws against Croatia and Austria away but they lost their most recent fixture, which ended 1-0 in favour of Croatia at the Stade de France.
There has been a lack of goals in France’s recent Nations League games and they have seen under 2.5 goals scored in each of their last 3 matches in the competition.
However, their overall home record shows they have not always been easy to beat and France are unbeaten in 30 of their last 32 home fixtures in all competitions.
Austria make the trip to Paris having previously lost 2-0 at Denmark in the Nations League back in June. Both goals were scored in the first half and Austria could not break down the Danish defence in the second half.
That was the second defeat to Denmark in the group having also lost the home fixture against the Danes 2-1. With the score 1-1 going into the final minutes of the match, Denmark scored the winning goal.
However, Austria have picked up points against Croatia and France in the group. Austria started their campaign with an excellent 3-0 win in Croatia and picked up a point in a 1-1 draw at home against the French having conceded a late equaliser.
Trends show Austria have not lost in 5 of their last 6 away games in the Nations League. They have kept 3 clean sheets in their last 4 away trips in the competition.
Team news and France have some exciting young players who could feature in this game, including Aurélien Tchouaméni, Eduardo Camavinga, Youssouf Fofana, and Benoît Badiashile.
Austria will have experienced striker Marko Arnautović in attack plus some talented midfield players, including Marcel Sabitzer and Christoph Baumgartner.
The pressure is on France to get a result in this game but they have been struggling in the Nations League. Austria will sit back and defend, making life difficult for the French and could keep another away clean sheet, picking up a good point in a 0-0 draw.