France v Belgium: Dembele to help side move into quarters | OneFootball

Euro 2024

Dembele could be key to unlocking the Belgian defence

Football tipster Abigail Davies has previewed France v Belgium, looking through the odds to find value tips, including Romelu Lukaku to register two or more shots on target and be fouled one or more times at 5/1 for Betfair...

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France v BelgiumMonday 1st July, 17:00Live on ITV1

France to find the formula

Things were looking terrific for France an hour into their final group game. Their star man and captain had finally broken his European Championship duck and Didier Deschamps' side were heading for the kinder side of the draw. However, a mistake at the back proved incredibly costly as their opponents equalised and made France's potential route to glory this summer a whole lot tougher.

That said, they are deservedly huge favourites to get the job done inside 90 minutes against The Red Devils on Monday evening, despite both sides having a remarkably poor shot conversion rate in the group stage.

With varying degrees of pressure and expectation on the shoulders of both camps, you feel France are the side more likely to move through the gears as the tournament progresses.

While he may have squandered a glorious opportunity in front of goal, winning a penalty with a bursting run into the box, Ousmane Dembele showed glimpses against Poland of the many ways he can terrify defences. With Belgium's backline looking incredibly vulnerable, the 27-year-old could play a key role in this one due to the constant threat he's capable of posing and the questions he asks down the right hand side. Ultimately his final delivery let him down a number of times in the group games but I'm backing him to get it right in the last 16 and provide an assist at 10/3.

Kylian Mbappe looked sharp throughout France's final group game but despite netting from the penalty spot, the Real Madrid man lacked a cutting edge in front of goal and question marks remain over whether he should start this one out on the left where he is likely to have an even bigger impact.

Belgium will need to be at their brilliant best

Belgium have made it through the group but without convincing anybody that they are capable of getting their hands on the trophy this summer. One very decent showing from Kevin De Bruyne aside, it has been an incredibly underwhelming start to the tournament for Belgium and whilst they have a number of match winners and game changers in the squad, there haven't been too many signs that they'll turn it on in Dusseldorf.

Appearing in the knockout stage of the Euros for a third successive time, Belgium certainly have players capable of getting in behind, producing moments of individual brilliance and stringing together some devastating passes in dangerous areas and despite not having a single goal to his name in this tournament, Romelu Lukaku continues to notch up attempts on target. I like the look of him recording two or more in this match and to be fouled one or more times at 5/1.

Based on what we've seen from both teams so far, with only Serbia having a poorer shot conversion rate than France and Belgium, a goal fest looks highly unlikely, under 2.5 goals in this match is a decent 4/7. In fact, France's two goals in this tournament is their worst return in a major tournament group phase since the 2010 World Cup where they scored just the single goal.

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