France 3-1 Denmark: What’s your prediction?

Having lost twice to Denmark recently, France will be taking nothing for granted when they look to secure their qualification for the knockout stages with a game to spare in Group D on Saturday.

The defending champions entered the tournament on the back of a dismal Nations League campaign, during which Denmark beat them 2-1 in Paris and 2-0 in Copenhagen.

Even if the World Cup is another tournament altogether, Les Bleus have a fair idea of the problems Denmark, who back in 2002 struck the final blow in France's terrible campaign with a 2-0 group-stage win, can cause them.

France started the Qatar tournament in style with a 4-1 win against Australia, but Denmark will be a sterner test at the 974 Stadium.

When?

26th November, 10:00 pm, Bangladesh time

Where?

Stadium 974, Ras Abu Aboud, Doha, Qatar.

Head-to-head

Matches 16

France 8

Denmark 6

Draw 2

Lineups

France: (4-2-1-3) Hugo Lloris (capt); Jules Kounde, Raphael Varane, Dayot Upamecano, Theo Hernandez; Aurelien Tchouameni, Adrien Rabiot; Antoine Griezmann; Ousmane Dembele, Olivier Giroud, Kylian Mbappe

Denmark: (3-4-3) Kasper Schmeichel (capt); Joachim Andersen, Andreas Christensen, Victor Nelsson; Rasmus Kristensen, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Christian Eriksen, Joakim Maehle; Jesper Lindstrom, Andreas Cornelius, Mikkel Damsgaard

Prediction: France 3-1 Denmark

Key stats:

* Denmark beat France twice in the recent Nations League campaign, winning 2-1 in Paris and following that up with a 2-0 victory in Copenhagen.

* The French are the current world champions, while Denmark made it to the semi-finals of Euro 2020 despite playmaker Christian Eriksen suffering a heart attack in their first group game against Finland.

* France have won the World Cup twice (1998, 2018), while Denmark's best performance came in France in 1998, where they made the quarter-finals

* French striker Olivier Giroud needs one more goal to become his country's all-time leading top scorer - the 36-year-old is tied with Thierry Henry on 51 goals after netting twice in their opener against Australia.

Previous meetings: The two teams have met 16 times in total, with eight wins for France and six for Denmark.

Following is a statbox on France at the World Cup:

FIFA Ranking: 4 (Oct 6)

Odds: 6-1

Previous tournaments:

France have appeared in 15 World Cups, including the last six. They won their first title in 1998, beating Brazil 3-0 in the final on home soil, and repeated the feat in the last edition in Russia with a 4-2 final victory against Croatia.

How they qualified

France qualified top of Group D with five wins and three draws, two of them against second-placed Ukraine.

They finished their qualifying campaign with three consecutive victories, including an 8-0 demolition of Kazakhstan. They scored 18 goals and conceded three.

Following is a statbox on Denmark at the World Cup.

FIFA Ranking: 10 (Oct. 6)

Odds: 33-1

Previous tournaments:

Denmark made their World Cup debut in Mexico in 1986 but did not appear again until 1998 in France, where they had their best performance by reaching the quarter-finals. Since then they have twice made the last 16 (2002, 2018), going out at the group stage in 2010 and missing the 2006 and 2014 tournaments.

How they qualified: Nine straight wins saw them cruise to victory in Group F, where they finished on 27 points, four ahead of second-placed Scotland. They scored 30 goals and conceded three.