Nigeria V Burundi Betting Tips: Over 2.5 Goals – 22 June 2019

International Football Tips

Nigeria V Burundi

Saturday 22 June 2019 – 18:00 Kick-Off

International; Africa Cup of Nations

Pick: Over 2.5 Goals – 13/10 WilliamHill

An intriguing contest to begin proceedings in Group B at the Africa Cup of Nations as three-time winners Nigeria take on Burundi, who are competing in the tournament for the very first time. The 20,000-capacity Alexandria Stadium is the venue, in Alexandria, Egypt.

 

Recent Trends

  • Nigeria topped their group in qualifying ahead of South Africa (W4 D1 L1, GF14 GA6).
  • Burundi qualified for this tournament by finishing second in their qualifying group, behind Mali (W2 D4 L0, GF11 GA5).
  • This will be the very first meeting between these two countries.

 

Nigeria

The Nigerians are among the favourites to lift the trophy on 19 July, and for good reason. This is a nation with seventeen tournament appearances, have progressed to the final on no fewer than seven occasions (winning three of them), while there are only a select few teams who can seriously rival the depth of quality within their squad. So odds of 9/1 about a fourth title seem fair.

First and foremost, qualify from what appear a generous looking Group B. And they are the firm favourites to do so, with odds of 1/2 about them topping the section an indication of how much respect they command. That doesn’t come as a shock, as their starting line-up will consist of a settled back four protected by an experienced captain in John Obi Mikel, alongside arguably the best ball-winner in the Premier League in Wilfred Ndidi.

An attack which registered 14 goals during qualifying, at an average of more than two-a-game, won’t be easy to contain either. Although that hasn’t quite been the case in the warm up games. A 1-0 win over a Salah-less Egypt was encouraging of sorts, but a goalless draw with Zimbabwe before losing 1-0 to Senegal was very disappointing and put an end to their unbeaten nine-game streak.

It will be a relief, then, that star striker Odion Ighalo is back in the fold and should lead the attack here after missing a couple of those friendlies. The 30-year-old has enjoyed a rich vein of form in the Chinese Super League, scoring goals on a frequent basis, and his return should revitalise a recently limp attack. The former Watford goal-getter scored more times in qualification than anybody else on the continent (7).

 

 

Both Teams to Score
15/8

Bet365

 

Burundi Preview

There won’t have been many who expected them to even qualify, so who would dare rule them out from producing what would surely go down as one of the biggest shocks in Africa Cup of Nations history? Burundi will be making their tournament debut at these finals and will need to defy all expectations if they are to enjoy any success.

If mammoth odds of 200/1 to lift the trophy at the first attempt are not quite a strong enough indication of the size of the challenge that awaits them, then odds of 25/1 just to top Group B certainly should. The Swallows, as they are nicknamed, are here on merit though, pipping Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s Gabon to second place to qualify behind Mali, after impressively going the whole group phase unbeaten (W2 D4).

Their key player could well be 25-year-old Fiston Razak, who contributed six of their eleven goals which included four in one game versus South Sudan. Although the most famous face in their ranks is the much-maligned former England prospect, Saido Berahino. The Stoke City striker has only scored one goal in seven caps so far, but it was a crucial one away to Gabon in a 1-1 draw.

Preparations for the tournament haven’t been as extensive as some with only two warm up games, in which they were unable to win either. A 1-1 draw with Algeria was followed by a 2-1 loss to Tunisia. Any match involving them is likely to be very entertaining though; a bet on both teams to score would have won in eight of their last nine games, losing only twice in the same period (W1 D6 L2) although the opposition in many of those wasn’t of the highest standard.

 

Betting Tips

Main Selection: Over 2.5 Goals – 13/10 WilliamHill

Value Pick: Nigeria to WIN & BTTS – 19/5 Coral

 

Betting Summary

As opening games go, this is about as tough as it can possibly get for Burundi. In qualification they seemingly thrived off being underdogs and duly delivered, going the entirety of the group stage unbeaten to qualify. This feels like another step up though, playing against a former African champion with one of the strongest squads in the whole competition.

If the debutants are to go down here, there is every chance they could go down fighting. Eight of their last nine matches have ended with both teams scoring, which is astonishing statistic. What it does mean is a Nigeria team boasting more star quality and tournament nous should be good for at least a couple goals, up against a team ranked 85 places below them in the FIFA rankings that evidently cannot defend.

Therefore, backing 3 or more goals has a fair degree of logic to it. Nigeria have the firepower to notch a couple, against an inferior opponent not renowned for their watertight defending, but there is also the added safety net of knowing Burundi possess a wicked habit of scoring in most games and could potentially help our bet out.