Looking to bounce back from respective defeats in their opening World Cup qualifiers last time out, Djibouti and Niger square up at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium on Monday.
The clash in Rabat will be the first ever meeting between the two sides, who are both seeking a maiden appearance at the World Cup in Qatar next year.
Match preview
Djibouti were left red-faced following an 8-0 humiliation at the hands of the Desert Foxes of Algeria at the Stade Mustapha Tchaker in Blida on Thursday.
Islam Slimani was the star of the show as he netted four times while Ramy Bensebaini, Baghdad Bounedjah, Riyad Mahrez and Ramiz Zerrouki all got on the scoresheet to complete the rout.
That was Riverains de la Mer Rouge's third-heaviest defeat in their 74-year history behind 10-1 and 9-0 losses to Uganda and Rwanda respectively.
Monday's hosts, who are currently 182nd in the FIFA rankings, are unbeaten in their last three matches on home turf and defeated Somalia 1-0 in the most recent outing on June 15.
However, they are one of eight teams deemed unfit to host international matches after their venues failed inspection by a team from the continent's football regulating body CAF.
Niger endured another disappointing outing as they suffered a 2-0 defeat to the Stallions of Burkina Faso at the Stade de Marrakech on Thursday.
With the scores level at half time, Lassina Traore opened the scoring from the penalty spot half an hour into the second half, before Mohamed Konate made sure of the result three minutes later.
The Dama gazelle have now picked up just two wins from their 13 fixtures since the turn of the year, which have come in international friendlies versus Cameroon and Sudan.
Both of those victories also came away from home, and Monday's visitors will be looking to emerge triumphant on their travels once again.
- L
- W
- L
- L
- D
- L
- L
- L
- D
- L
- L
- L
- W
- L
Team News
Youssouf Batio Mohamed was given his marching orders versus Algeria last time out, and the defender will serve the first of a three-game suspension.
Samuel Akinbinu was hauled off less than 30 minutes into the first half of the aforementioned game, making him a doubt for his side's trip to Morocco.
After a nine-year drought, Amadou Moutari opened his account during the last international break and the 27-year-old will aim to add to his tally.
Victorien Adebayor's 10 goals is the most of any player in the current Niger squad, and he is definitely worth keeping an eye on in this one.
Djibouti possible starting lineup:
Mbonihankuye; Robleh, Mohamed, Wais, Abdourahman, Farada; Siad, Hamza, Elabeh, Hassan; Mahabeh
Niger possible starting lineup:
Daouda; Mohamed, Garba, Lybohy; Diabate, Wonkoye, Adebayor, Oumarou; Lambo, Moumouni, Moutari
We say: Djibouti 0-1 Niger
Djibouti have some serious picking up to do following that huge defeat to Algeria, and Niger will be looking to take advantage of that.
We foresee a low-scoring affair in this one with the visitors just managing to edge it by the odd goal.
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 Djibouti win with a probability of 38.68%. A win for Niger had a probability of 35.04% and a draw had a probability of 26.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Djibouti win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.84%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.42%) and 2-0 (6.63%). The likeliest Niger win was 0-1 (9.28%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.49%). The actual scoreline of 2-4 was predicted with a 0.7% likelihood.
