Nigeria travel to the Stadium Aderito Sena on Tuesday for their meeting with Cape Verde looking to pick up a second World Cup qualifying win.
Cape Verde, on the other hand, go in search of a first victory in Group C following a stalemate in their opening fixture last time out.
Match preview
© Reuters
Going head-to-head for the first time in three years, Nigeria saw off the threat of Liberia with a 2-0 triumph at the Teslim Balogun Stadium on Friday.
Leicester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho broke the deadlock midway through the first-half, before grabbing a second on the stroke of half time.
Consequently, Gernot Rohr's men are now unbeaten in their last seven competitive outings, winning five of them, including each of the last three.
Having already secured their place at next year's AFCON in January, the Super Eagles now continue their quest to feature in November's World Cup with a first ever meeting against Cape Verde.
With six appearances already under their belt, Tuesday's hosts already the experience needed at this level, which could play a big part in their qualifying campaign.
Cape Verde missed out on an opportunity to get their qualifying campaign underway with a victory following a 1-1 draw versus the Central African Republic on Wednesday.
Julio Tavares saw his first-half goal cancelled out eight minutes into the second period by Tresor Toropite which led to a share of the spoils in Douala.
The Blue Sharks now return to their home turf, where they are unbeaten in five games and claimed an impressive 3-1 win over Cameroon last time out.
With opponents of a high calibre expected in town once again, Tuesday's hosts will be confident of securing another feather in the cap.
- D
- D
- D
- W
- W
- L
- D
- W
- W
- W
- L
- D
- L
- W
Team News
Nigeria will be without Kelechi Iheanacho, Wilfred Ndidi, Alex Iwobi, Leon Balogun, William Ekong, Oghenekaro Etebo and Joe Aribo as Cape Verde is on the Red List of travel restrictions for UK-based players.
The likes of Shehu Abdullahi, Ahmed Musa and Samuel Kalu are in line to be named in the starting XI this time around after featuring off the bench last time out.
Musa's next appearance for his nation will be his 100th, second only to the duo of Vincent Enyeama and Joseph Yobo who currently lead the way with 101.
Julio Tavares ended a three-year international goal drought with his equaliser against the Central African Republic, and the 32-year-old also became his nation's 10th-most capped player of all time in the aforementioned game.
Ryan Mendes has scored two of Cape Verde's last three goals on home turf, the most recent of which was the clincher in a 3-1 victory over Cameroon.
Cape Verde possible starting lineup:
Vozinha; D. Tavares, Lopes, Stopira, S. Furtado; Andrade, Ponck, Santos; Mendes, J. Tavares, A. Furtado
Nigeria possible starting lineup:
Okoye; Aina, Collins, Omeruo, Ebuehi; Innocent, Abdullahi, Kalu; Simon, Musa, Osimhen
We say: Cape Verde 0-1 Nigeria
Despite the unavailability of several key stars, the Super Eagles will back themselves to claim all three points away from home. While they may not be as dominant as last time out, we are tipping Nigeria to come out on top.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
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 Cape Verde win with a probability of 47.63%. A win for Nigeria had a probability of 27.18% and a draw had a probability of 25.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Cape Verde win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.71%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.36%) and 2-0 (8.37%). The likeliest Nigeria win was 0-1 (7.66%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.96%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 6.7% likelihood.
