Algeria and Niger continue their quest for a place in the World Cup 2022 when they go head to head at the Stade Mustapha Tchaker on Friday.
The hosts were held to a somewhat disappointing draw against Burkina Faso in their last outing, while the visitors picked up a morale-boosting victory over Djibouti.
Match preview
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Algeria kicked off their hunt for a place in Qatar in grand style as they steamrolled Djibouti 8-0 at the Stade Mustapha Tchaker on September 2.
In a pulsating and one-sided affair, former Leicester City man Islam Slimani put on a headline-grabbing performance as he hit four goals, while Ramy Bensebaini, Baghdad Bounedjah, Riyad Mahrez and Ramiz Zerrouki also got on the scoresheet to cap off a sensational team performance.
However, Algeria failed to carry on the momentum into their subsequent outings as they were held to a 1-1 draw by a resilient Burkina Faso side at the Stade de Marrakech five days later.
Galatasaray forward Sofiane Feghouli scored in the 18th minute to hand El Khadra a one-goal lead heading into half time but Abdoul Tapsoba restored parity four minutes after the hour mark to deny them a sixth consecutive victory.
Djamel Belmadi's men head into Friday's game unbeaten in each of their last 14 games across all competitions, picking up 10 wins and four draws since a 3-0 loss to Morocco in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers back in 2019.
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Meanwhile, Niger picked up their first win of the World Cup qualifiers last time out when they comfortably edged out Djibouti 4-2 on September 6.
Djibouti took a one-goal lead into the interval courtesy of Anas Farah Ali's 32nd-minute opener, but Warsama Hassan could only halve the deficit in the 91st minute as the visitors upped the ante in the second half and turned the game around when Victorien Adebayor netted a brace before Amadou Wonkoye and Amadou Sabo added to the scoreline in a four-minute spell.
That followed an opening-day 2-0 defeat at the hands of Burkina Faso when Lassina Traore and Mohamed Konate netted second-half goals to end Les Etalons' run of two consecutive losses.
With just one point separating them and Algeria in Group A, Jean Michel Cavalli will feel the need to push his side for maximum points on Friday as they could leapfrog their hosts and boost their qualification chances by moving into first place.
However, going up against the current African champions could be a tough ask for the Menas, who have managed just two wins in their last 12 encounters across all competitions, suffering defeat in seven outings in that time.
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Team News
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Belmadi has called up a star-studded 25-man squad for their double header against Niger; including Manchester City star Riyad Mahrez and Olympique Lyon's Islam Slimani.
The latter will be one to watch out for after netting four goals against Djibouti back in September and we expect the 33-year-old to team up with Sofiane Feghouli at the attacking end of the pitch.
Haris Belkebla was handed a return to the fold against Burkina Faso last time out, but after his unconvincing performance, the 27-year-old could return to the bench on Friday.
Meanwhile, Niger head into the international break with a strong squad, including the likes of Kassaly Daouda, who is their most caped player with 83 appearances, and Maccabi Haifa midfielder Ali Mohamed.
With his strikes against Djibouti last time out, Victorien Adebayor is now one goal behind Moussa Maazou in the nation's all-time goalscoring chart and the ENPPI forward is definitely worth keeping an eye on in this one.
Algeria possible starting lineup:
M'Bolhi; Bensebaini, Benlamri, Mandi, Zeffane; Bennacer, Zerrouki; Belaili, Slimani, Riyad Mahrez; Feghouli
Niger possible starting lineup:
Daouda; Lybohy, Diabate, Ibrahim, Salamoun; Mohamed, Soumana, Oumarou; Wonkoye, Soumana, Adebayor
We say: Algeria 2-0 Niger
After suffering a slip-up against Burkina Faso last time out, Algeria will be seeking to get their qualification campaign back on track.
They take on a significantly inferior Niger side who are 89 places below them in the FIFA World Rankings, and considering the gulf in class and quality between the two sides, we anticipate they will come away with all three points unscathed.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Algeria win with a probability of 60.07%. A draw had a probability of 23.4% and a win for Niger had a probability of 16.56%.
The most likely scoreline for an Algeria win was 1-0 with a probability of 14%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (12.14%) and 2-1 (9.5%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.95%), while for a Niger win it was 0-1 (6.32%). The actual scoreline of 6-1 was predicted with a 0.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Algeria would win this match.
