Gabon vs Guinea Bissau Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Gabon couldn’t have hoped for a much easier fixture to kickstart their African Cup of Nations hosting. They face off against Guinea Bissau, who are playing in the competition for the first time in history and won their qualifying group with the lowest tally of points of anybody else.

The fact that Guinea Bissau’s defensive setup largely consists of reserve players with fewer than 15 caps to their name will please Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang greatly. The Borussia Dortmund attacker will captain Gabon during this competition and has been in incredible form this season. He has scored 21 goals in 23 games in all competitions for club and country, and his 21 international goals make him the highest scorer in the squad.

Gabon have struggled to pick up wins of late, but with the home advantage on their side and facing the minnows of the whole competition they will feel fairly confident about their chances in this one.

Guinea Bissau have a marginally better form record going for them, but in fairness they have had an easier run of fixtures and were playing in competitive games, whereas Gabon were limited to friendlies whilst qualification was going on.

The minnows have won three, drawn one, and lost four of their last eight games, beating Kenya twice and Zambia once. Outside of Guinea Bissau they have only won one match in the last six years though, so it could be a tough group stage for them.

To be honest neither of these teams are brimming with quality, but Gabon edge is due to their star player potential. Malick Evouna and Aubameyang provide incredible goal threat for the hosts and they have Juventus midfielder Mario Lemina and Sunderland midfielder Didier N’Dong to feed the strikers. Their defence is notably lacking in quality, but Guinea Bissau are unlikely to provide much of a goal threat considering the top scorer in their squad has just two goals.

Gabon are being heavily favoured here, but I think the best value is to be found in backing Aubameyang to score anytime at 20/21 considering he will be the lynch-pin in Gabon’s attack. I’m going for a 2-0 correct score predictions at 9/2 as well.