France are still in the chase of a top finish in their respective group in the World Cup Qualifiers, and they will now be hosted to Bulgaria on Saturday, October 7th. Bulgaria are still mathematically in the chase of a qualifying ticket, hoping that they can go through as one of the best 2nd-placed teams.
After losing at the EURO Cup Final to Portugal last summer, France (5-1-2) have made a pretty strong run in the World Cup Qualifiers, as they are sitting at the top of Group A with 17 points. They are just one point ahead of Sweden, 4 points ahead of the Netherlands and 5 points ahead of their upcoming opponents. They have been equally strong on the road so far (2-1-1), where they ahve scored just 5 goals against 3 conceded. There have been Over 2.5 Goals in 5 of their 8 matches so far, but the same statistic has showed up in just two of their four road matches. France could have been in a much more comfortable spot had they not been stuck at a couple of unexpected and goal-less draws against Belarus and Luxembourg.
On the other hand, Bulgaria (4-4-0) have been quite solid in the World Cup qualifiers so far, mostly due to their amazing performances at home. They are coming off a really tough 1-3 loss against the Netherlands in their last match, where they didn’t deserve anything more. They are now sitting at the 4th spot of Group A with 12 points, and failing to win here would probably leave them outside the qualification chase. Even so, they have won all 4 home matches so far, scoring 10 goals in the process against 5 conceded. There have been Over 2.5 Goals in 6 of their 8 matches so far, but just two of their home matches featured that same stat.