Euro 2016 preview and odds: France vs Albania

Published on: 15/06/2016

Euro 2016 preview and odds: France vs Albania

Stade Vélodrome, Marseille - June 15, 2016

Group stage - Group A

Victory against Albania on Wednesday night would send hosts France through to the knockout stages of Euro 2016.

A return to Marseilles for Didier Deschamps

Didier Deschamps will return to the city where he won league and European titles as a player and a coach on Wednesday night, as he seeks to lead France into the knock out stages of Euro 2016 with a game to spare. Standing in his way will be an Albania side who drew 1-1 with France and beat them 1-0 at home in recent friendly meetings.

Les Blues have a decent record in Marseilles having won three and drawn one of their last four matches played there. In the opening game of this tournament, they left it late to secure a 2-1 over Romania and will be looking to improve on that nervy performance.

Albania were perhaps unlucky to have lost 1-0 to Switzerland in their opening game, having played the last 54 minutes with 10 men after the dismissal of their captain and former Marseilles player Lorik Cana, who will be suspended for this clash. They will certainly make life difficult for the French, as they showed in their recent friendly encounters.

With Cana missing, Arlind Ajeti can be expected to step into the central defence as Albania look to stifle France`s considerable attacking threat and hit them on the counter attack. Gianni De Biasi`s men also look pretty handy at set pieces and will look to utilise this at every opportunity.

Form (all competitions):

France: WWWWWLWWWW

Albania: LLWWLDWLLD

Betting predictions

There should be an electric atmosphere in Marseilles and France will be under less pressure having already won their tense opener against Romania. Dimitri Payet will feel right at home as he return to the stadium where he played for two years before moving to West Ham.

Albania could cause a few problems for the sometimes fragile French defence and may just sneak a goal but an upset in unlikely.

You can back France to win and both teams to score at 11/4 with Bet365.

By Neil Morris

Published on: 15/06/2016

Any odds displayed within this preview were correct at the time of publishing (15/06/2016 12:32:45) but are subject to change.