Aiming to avoid a sixth consecutive 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying defeat, Djibouti visit the General Seyni Kountche stadium on Monday to face off against Niger.
The home side, on the other hand, are looking to complete a double over their visitors off the back of September's triumph at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium.
Match preview
Niger held Burkina Faso to a 1-1 draw in their final qualifier away from home on Friday at Stade de Marrakech.
Jean-Michel Cavalli's men went into the interval with a slender advantage courtesy of Youssef Oumarou's penalty before Issoufou Dayo kept his cool from 12 yards to level matters 10 minutes into the second half.
The Dama gazelle remain third in the group and are guaranteed to finish there irrespective of whatever happens in their final fixture.
However, Monday's hosts have not won a game on home turf since 2020 when they got the better of Ethiopia in a narrow 1-0 victory.
Going up against a side who have shipped 22 goals so far including four in the reverse fixture, the west Africans will be hopeful of putting on an attacking clinic in front of their fans.
Djibouti were thrashed 4-0 by Algeria on Friday when the teams went head-to-head at the Cairo International Stadium.
Goals from Youcef Belaili, Said Benrahma, Sofiane Feghouli and Islam Slimani put Julien Mette's men to the sword.
The Riverains de la Mer Rouge are the only team in the entire continent yet to pick up a point in the qualifiers ahead of their trip to Niamey.
Monday's visitors, whose last competitive victory came on the road, now set out to close an otherwise disappointing qualifying campaign on a high.
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Team News
Adebayor Adje grabbed a brace in September's meeting and will be looking to deliver the goods once again.
Adje had to make do with a 30-minute cameo off the bench last time out, but we expect the 25-year-old to feature right from the off this time.
Mahdi Houssein Mahabeh Is set to make his 20th cap for Djibouti and will become just the fourth player in history to do so.
The same back three of Abdoulkader Djama, Batio Youssouf and Siad Yabe is expected here, shielding Innocent Hankuye in goal.
Niger possible starting lineup:
Daouda; Lybohy, Diabate, Garba, Salamun; Mohamed, Oumarou; Wonkoye, Adebayor, Sosah; Soumana
Djibouti possible starting lineup:
Hankuye; Djama, Youssouf, Yabe; B. Mohamed, Hamza, Said, Farada; Batio, Akinbinu, Mahabeh
We say: Niger 2-0 Djibouti
The home side have already exhibited their supremacy over the visitors and will be confident of emerging triumphant in this one. We are backing them to get the job done in a relatively comfortable manner.
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 Niger win with a probability of 46.83%. A win for Djibouti had a probability of 29.69% and a draw had a probability of 23.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Niger win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.32%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.03%) and 2-0 (6.96%). The likeliest Djibouti win was 1-2 (7.19%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.74%). The actual scoreline of 7-2 was predicted with a 0% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Niger would win this match.
