The final match in this round of UEFA Nations League A, Group 1 is a belter as France welcome Germany to the Stade de France, Paris.
This game is the biggest test France have faced having lifted the World Cup in the summer while Germany are under pressure to get a positive result. There is a great game in prospect.
France begin this game sitting top of UEFA Nations League A, Group 1 with 4 points from two games. They picked up a point in a 0-0 draw at Germany before going on to defeat the Netherlands 2-1 at home. Neither result was particularly convincing but was enough to see France take pole position in Group 1.
Trends show France are undefeated in their last fourteen matches across all competitions. Their last defeat came at home against Colombia in a friendly back in March and is the only defeat France have tasted in their last twenty-two games.
At home, France have lost one of their last twelve matches, which was the game against Colombia. However, they have not had things all their own way recently and have been held to draws by the United States prior to the World Cup and most recently, Iceland.
Goals is the order of the day when France play at home and trends show they have scored two or more goals in ten of their last twelve home matches and eight of those games have ended with a home win. Both teams have scored in each of France’s last four home games.
Germany travel to Paris under pressure following their shock 3-0 defeat at Netherlands. While the Dutch have always been a force in international football, they have been struggling of late but now it appears the German manager, Joachim Low is the person under pressure.
Having been eliminated from the World Cup at the group stage, Germany have won just one of their three games since the tournament. That win came at home against Peru and the 2-1 final score suggests Germany did not win that game as comfortably as they thought they were going to before the match.
Prior to that win, Germany were held at home by France in the reverse of this fixture in a goalless draw. That means Germany are yet to score a single goal in the UEFA Nations League and sit bottom of the group. Relegation and the dismissal of Low will be a distinct possibility if Germany lose this match.
Team news and France are set to be at full strength for this game. Expect to see Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba, Kylian Mbappe and Raphael Varane all start the game.
Germany look like a team who need to make changes but Low seems determined to push on with the same group of players. Emre Can, Thomas Muller and Marc Uth could be three players who drop to the bench.
The French must start this game as the favourites and given the way Germany conceded goals in their previous match we could see the hosts score at least two goals and pick up maximum points.