Algeria vs Zimbabwe Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Algeria’s star studded midfield and attack will be hoping they can make up for what has the potential to be a pretty leaky defence. Whilst the likes of Riyad Mahrez, Yacine Brahimi, Nabil Bentaleb, Islam Slimani, and El Arabi Hillel Soudani make up the midfield and attack, the defence is clearly lacking in the well known quality department.

This could be the reason they have conceded in five of their last eight games, despite playing a host of rather weak opponents. On the plus side they have scored a huge 29 goals in this period, so their attack is definitely flourishing.

Despite this abundance of talent they aren’t the group favourites here. That goes to Senegal, but Algeria have every chance of qualifying for the knockout stages, as long as they perform to the best of their abilities.

Their warm up games have looked promising so far as well, with a 3-1 and a 6-0 thrashing of Mauritania to make it seven wins, three draws, and just one defeat from their last 11 outings. This led them to the top spot in their qualification group, with them dropping just two points in six matches and scoring a huge 25 goals.

Zimbabwe’s qualification campaign wasn’t quite so dominant. They picked up 11 points from their 12 games despite having a group including the likes of Swaziland, Guinea, and Malawi. They have managed to avoid defeat in all but one of their last 13 matches, but the quality of their competition has generally been much lower than the likes of Algeria.

Whilst their opponents are leaving Premier League players such as Sofiane Feghouli out of the squad Zimbabwe are staying closer to home with their squad selection. The vast majority of their squad are based in Africa, with their top scorer Knowledge Musona being one of the few European based players present.

The underdogs are quite a defensive side by nature, but I doubt they can keep Algeria out for the entire match here. El Arbi Soudani is the one I’m expecting to break the deadlock. He has scored 21 goals in 39 appearances for Algeria, making him the second top scorer behind Islam Slimani but having played seven fewer games than him. He comes in at a very promising 7/4 to score anytime, so I’m backing him for my goalscorer predictions.

When Algeria do make the breakthrough they don’t tend to take their foot off the pedal. Six of their last nine matches have seen them win by at least two goals, with four six plus goal margins in there as well. This makes odds of 2.100 for an Algeria -1.0 Asian Handicap Win look good value, and I’m backing that alongside a 3-0 correct score predictions at 10/1.