Ivory Coast v Nigeria

Ivory Coast vs Nigeria Preview

Ivory Coast produced a promising and positive start to their Africa Cup Of Nations campaign by recording a solid 2-0 win against Guinea-Bissau and the Ivorians know that another three points against Nigeria in this second game of their respective campaigns in Group A would see Jean-Louis Gasset's side take a huge step towards qualifying for the knockout rounds of this year's competition.

That opening win in Group A against Guinea-Bissau was a fourth victory on the bounce for Ivory Coast who had previously accounted for the likes of Seychelles and Gambia in World Cup qualifiers, along with a crushing 5-1 win against Sierra Leone in an international friendly just before the start of this AFCON tournament.

The former two wins saw Ivory Coast post comprehensive 9-0 and 2-0 wins respectively, while the bigger picture shows Ivory Coast have now put together an unbeaten sequence of seven games overall in all competitions which includes collecting five wins along the way.

Ivory Coast must be considered to be amongst one of the favourites to lift this year's trophy especially as they have been handed just four defeats out of their last 19 games in the AFCON finals.

It's seemingly advantage to Equatorial Guinea following the recent 1-1 draw with Nigeria who now have to get a result of some sort against Ivory Coast on Thursday evening especially as Equatorial Guinea face the bottom nation in Group A, Guinea-Bissau, in their next group match.

Whilst a 1-1 draw with Equatorial Guinea in their opening game of the group isn't a disaster, that stalemate nevertheless extended Nigeria's winless run to four matches in all competitions although the bigger picture shows Nigeria have been dealt just the single defeat in their previous nine games overall.

Within these previous nine games, Nigeria have managed to collect just four victories which include AFCON qualifying wins against the likes of Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone and Sao Tome e Principe, the latter being a particularly comprehensive 6-0 thrashing.

In addition, Nigeria registered a 3-2 win away from home at Mozambique in an international friendly in mid-October of last year but the bigger picture shows Jose Peseiro's side have managed to capture just these four wins out of their last 15 games in all competitions.

Results on the AFCON stage have actually been pretty solid though for Nigeria who have lost just three of their previous 19 games at this level including picking up 13 wins in the process as well.

Ivory Coast v Nigeria Verdict

Previous exchanges would suggest Ivory Coast hold the upper hand ahead of this upcoming tussle with Nigeria having won four of the previous six meetings.

Therefore, our main bet will be Ivory Coast win @ 2.10

Other side bets worth considering:

Ivory Coast win & Under 2.5 goals @ 3.60

Correct Score: Ivory Coast 1-0 @ 5.50