The qualifying process for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations continues this week and on the 26th of March we have a match between Niger and Ivory Coast at the Stade Général Seyni Kountché.
Group K is particularly interesting because ahead of the sixth round of matches, all four teams in the group still have a chance of qualifying for the tournament.
At the time of writing, Niger are bottom of the group on 3 points while Ivory Coast are top on 7 points.Niger come into this game in poor form having recorded just a single victory from their 8 most recent matches.
Their most recent game ended in defeat at the African Nations Championship as Niger went down 2-1 against Congo DR. That result on the 21st of January followed draws against Libya and Congo in the same competition.
Niger do not have a good record in Africa Cup of Nations qualifying and they have recorded only two victories in their last 10 qualifying fixtures.
Their form at home has been inconsistent and Niger have picked up two wins, two draws, and two defeats in their last 6 home Africa Cup of Nations qualifying games.
However, they tend to be difficult to beat when playing on home soil and Niger have lost 3 of their last 10 at the Stade Général Seyni Kountché.
Ivory Coast know a win could take them through and will certainly leave them in a strong position ahead of the final fixture in this group.
However, The Elephants have not had things all their own way despite being the clear favourites to win Group K.
Ivory Coast have won only two of their 4 games in this group. They defeated Niger 1-0 and Madagascar 2-1 at home, neither of which were convincing victories.
There was a defeat in the second round of matches against Ethiopia and Ivory Coast were also held to a draw in Madagascar.
Having picked up just a single victory from their 5 most recent games, Ivory Coast are not in good form.
They have tasted defeat against Ethiopia and Japan plus have failed to win in their last 4 away Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches.
In fact, Ivory Coast have picked up just a single victory in their 7 most recent away Africa Cup of Nations qualifying games but they have lost only one of their last 9 on the road.
Looking ahead to the team news and Niger can call upon experienced midfielder Youssouf Oumarou, who plays his club football in Ivory Coast. Amadou Moutari, Mohamed Wonkoye, and Issa Djibrilla are competing for a place in attack.
Ivory Coast have plenty of experience in their squad including Max Gradel, Serey Dié, Franck Kessié, Gervinho, and Wilfried Zaha.
This is a tough assignment for Ivory Coast, who struggle to win games away from home in Africa Cup of Nations qualifying.
Neither team have been scoring a lot of goals in this group and we expect to see the match end level, with under 2.5 goals scored.