England hope to keep their World Cup dream alive on Saturday against Kylian Mbappe and his title-defending France team.
The PSG ace is the top scorer at the World Cup with five goals and bookmaker William Hill has the odds at 2.87 for Mbappe to find the net again Saturday.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: December 9th, 8:00 A.M. (EST)
Mbappe has been in truly dominant form in Qatar, adding two assists to his five goals. He has been involved in multiple goals in all three games in which he has played the full 90 minutes and England will know that their chances of success will mostly hinge on stopping Mbappe.
After also shining at the 2018 World Cup as a teenager, Mbappe has already racked up nine goals on football’s biggest stage, and he will be the 14th man to make it into double figures at the tournament if he can notch another goal. It’s an amazing scoring record, considering that there could be three more World Cups to come for Mbappe.
However, England can’t focus on stopping just one man. Olivier Giroud has become France’s all-time leading scorer in Qatar and Antoine Griezmann is enjoying an outstanding campaign in a new role. The Atletico Madrid man has been used more as a midfielder at the tournament and his creativity has been vital for the team. Prior to the quarterfinals stage, Griezmann leads all players with 15 chances created.
The Three Lions will hope to see Jude Bellingham match Griezmann’s efforts in the middle of the park and they will be looking at Harry Kane once again in attack. The England captain hasn’t exactly been spectacular with his play in Qatar, but Mbappe and Bruno Fernandes are the only players with more goal involvement than him. Kane recorded his first goal of the tournament in the round of 16 versus Senegal and boasts three assists as well.
Kane also played a big role for England when these two teams last met in 2017, scoring both goals in a 3-2 loss. It was a bad result for England and it’s a daunting match-up for the team, but they do boast a winning record against France. The 1966 world champions have won 17 of the previous 31 battles between the two nations, while France have tallied only nine victories in the head-to-head meetings over the years.
