Ukraine vs France Betting Tip – 04/09/2021 (7:45pm)

The stories circulating around Kylian Mbappe have been his transfer rumours. But the focus turns to him and his French teammates who travel to Ukraine to continue their World Cup qualifying campaign. Or today’s betting tip, we’ll be focusing on the second qualifying match between Ukraine and Didier Deshcamps’ France. 

The Ukranians return to international duty this week after an impressive showing at the Euros. They were one of the best third-placed teams and journeyed to the quarter finals before exiting to England. As for World Cup qualifying, Ukraine has made a consistent start. Ukraine  have played three in the qualifiers so far, drawing all three including a 1-1 draw with Les Bleus.

Ukraine’s stars from the Euros also look set to return for the latest qualifiers. Roman Yaremchuk, who moved to Benfica in the summer, will likely lead the line after an impressive Euros and West Ham United’s Andriy Yarmolenko is also in the squad.

The only problem area for Ukraine is the goalkeeper. 37-year-old Pyatov is the only keeper retained from the Euro’s squad with Denys Boyko being recalled and uncapped Dmytro Riznyk being added to the squad.

The world champions are back in action against Ukraine for their first game since they were defeated by Switzerland in the European Championships.  They made it out of the ‘group of death’ before their penalty shoot-out exit.

Though disappointing in the Euros, France have made an unblemished start to World Cup qualifying. Les Bleus have seven points out of a possible nine to begin qualifying and are sitting atop of group D.

Didier Deshcamps has mixed his pack ahead of the latest qualifier against Ukraine. Roma midfielder Jordan Veretout earns a call-up, as does AS Monaco midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni. In the attacking areas, Olivier Giroud misses out on a place in the squad whilst Benzema retains his place in the squad after numerous years of exile.

France have dominated recent fixtures between these two sides. Les Bleus have lost on one occasion to the Ukranians in over 20 years but they usually have close encounters. In nine out of the 11 meetings, the sides have been separated by less than three goals. This includes the reverse fixtures where the two teams drew 1-1 with goals from Antoine Griezmann and Sydorchuk.

This Ukrainian side has improved vastly over recent years but have recently lost manager Andriy Shevchenko. Oleksandr Petrakov will take interim charge but it is yet to be seen whether they can find the form that led them to a Euros quarter final. Whereas Didier Deschamps boasts an extremely talented squad and will be looking to continue their unbeaten run.

The five most recent results

This will be Oleksandr Petrakov’s first game as interim coach for the Ukrainian national side and his style of play is yet to be seen. However, these two teams usually play out close encounters with both struggling to keep clean sheets. Our tip for this game is a France win with under 3.5 goals with Paddy Power at 5/4.