Central African outfits Gabon and Angola go toe to toe at the Stade de Franceville on Monday in matchday four of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
The hosts are still in search of their first victory, while the visitors are aiming to make it back to back wins having picked up a first triumph last time out.
Match preview
Angola finally got their qualifying campaign underway at the third attempt following a 3-1 victory over Gabon at the Estadio 11 de Novembro on Friday.
Goals from Zini and Ary Papel saw Pedro Goncalves's men take a commanding two-goal lead before Axel Meye halved the deficit, only for Jonathan Buatu-Mananga to scored the clincher in added time.
The Giant sable antelopes have leapfrogged their last opponents into third place in the group but are still four points behind current leaders Egypt.
Next up for them is a chance to record a third consecutive win over Gabon in the space of a year having already beaten them in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in March prior to Friday's contest.
Monday's visitors, who have now recorded each of their last three wins on home turf now set out to keep their hopes of a maiden World Cup appearance alive with all three points in this one.
Gabon's wait for a first World Cup qualifying victory goes on as they were defeated away from home for the second consecutive match last time out.
Sandwiched in-between those losses was an impressive 1-1 stalemate against Egypt where the Panthers recorded their solitary point to date.
Patrice Neveu's men are currently rooted to the bottom of Group F but would move back into third spot with a victory in front of their fans.
Monday's hosts, who are unbeaten in competitive home fixtures since November 2018, will be confident of recording another positive result come the end of the 90 minutes.
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Team News
© Reuters
Nineteen-year-old Zini opened his account for Angola in what was only his second cap last time out and heads into Monday's contest with the wind in his sails.
Ary Papel's strike in Luanda was his sixth for the visitors and the Ismaily forward will be heavily relied upon once again as he has now scored more goals than the rest of the current squad combined.
Despite a disappointing day in front of goal on Friday, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is one to keep an eye on having netted in two of his last three home outings for the hosts.
Axel Meye ended a four-year goal drought for Gabon with his consolation strike on Friday and will be aiming to use that as a springboard for a consistent run of form.
Gabon possible starting lineup:
Mfa; Obiang, Palun, N'Dong, Poko; Lemina, Kanga, Madinda, Bouanga; Aubameyang, Boupendza
Angola possible starting lineup:
Marques; Carneiro, Gaspar, Santos, Buatu-Mananga; Show, Balburdia, Lepua; Papel, Fredy, Zini
We say: Gabon 2-1 Angola
Gabon are already in the last chance saloon as failure to come out on top in this one could spell the end of their already faint chances of qualification, and while we expect the away side to push them all the way, we fancy the home team to come away with all three points.
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 Gabon win with a probability of 47.17%. A win for Angola had a probability of 26.49% and a draw had a probability of 26.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Gabon win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.2%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.1%) and 2-0 (8.9%). The likeliest Angola win was 0-1 (8.56%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.47%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with an 8.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Gabon would win this match.
