France and Ukraine take a break from their UEFA Nations League campaigns with an international friendly in Paris on Wednesday evening.
While the world champions possess a lengthy unbeaten record, Ukraine saw a similar streak ended in September as they were thrashed 4-0 by Spain.
Match preview
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Given the relentless schedule up until Euro 2021, Didier Deschamps will feel that France could have done without another fixture on their calendar ahead of another Nations League double-header.
However, it provides Les Bleus with a chance to sharpen their tools ahead of tricky fixtures against Portugal and Croatia, a month after the latter managed to push them in Paris.
That 4-2 victory extended France's undefeated streak to nine matches, although Deschamps's side have been far from perfect during that period of success.
Their only wins by two goals or more have come against Andorra and Albania, and the recent set of results highlights that Deschamps has plenty of work ahead of him in preparation for Euro 2020.
Naming only 24 players in his squad for the next three matches is perhaps an indication that he wants to focus on building team spirit at this time, rather than handing pathways into the senior setup to several prospects coming through the ranks.
Andriy Shevchenko has grown into his role as Ukraine boss, coming through an indifferent start to help Ukraine qualify for next year's major tournament.
Ukraine went 11 matches without suffering defeat before the suspension in action, eventually extending that to a dozen contests with a hard-fought win over Switzerland last month.
Spain ended that streak with a thumping 4-0 win in Madrid, however, and it leaves Shevchenko having to rally his squad for a daunting triple-header with France, Germany and the reverse meeting with Spain over the next week.
Ukraine's task has been made no easier by the withdrawal of all of his Shakhtar Donetsk players after positive coronavirus tests for Andriy Pyatov and Taras Stepanenko.
France form (all competitions): WDWWWW
Ukraine form (all competitions): WWWDWL
Team News
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Deschamps could take the opportunity to hand debuts to Lille goalkeeper Mike Maignan and Lyon playmaker Houssem Aouar.
Kingsley Coman and Olivier Giroud are all likely to be involved after not playing for their clubs at the weekend.
Despite Paris Saint-Germain competing in Ligue 1 on Friday night, Kylian Mbappe may start this contest among the replacements.
The Ukraine XI will have an unfamiliar look to it, but Shevchenko will welcome the chance to give opportunities to several inexperienced players at the back.
Andriy Yarmolenko should start after not featuring for West Ham United at the weekend, but Ruslan Malinovskiy may be rested until the Nations League fixtures.
France possible starting lineup:
Maignan; Dubois, Kimpembe, Lenglet, Digne; Kante, Nzonzi, Aouar; Coman, Giroud, Martial
Ukraine possible starting lineup:
Lunin; Karavayev, Plastun, Cheberko, Mykhaylichenko; Sydorchuk, Kharatin, Shaparenko; Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk, Tsyhankov
We say: France 3-0 Ukraine
Despite the changes which will likely be made by Deschamps, France should cruise to victory in Paris. Ukraine will be wary about suffering another heavy defeat, but a negative mindset will not help them against the world champions.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 1.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Over 1.5:data
Darren Plant
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 France win with a probability of 72.54%. A draw had a probability of 17.6% and a win for Ukraine had a probability of 9.84%.
The most likely scoreline for a France win was 2-0 with a probability of 13.73%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (12.46%) and 3-0 (10.08%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.34%), while for a Ukraine win it was 0-1 (3.79%). The actual scoreline of 7-1 was predicted with a 0.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that France would win this match.
