Having made a dream start to their Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, Burundi entertain the challenge of Senegal at the Bingu National Stadium on Monday afternoon.
On the other hand, the visitors make the journey to Lilongwe aiming to bounce back from a late heartbreak in their opening encounter against Burkina Faso last time out.
Match preview
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After wasting multiple chances to put the game to bed, Senegal were left kicking themselves as they surrendered a 1-0 advantage with the final kick of the ball in their clash against Burkina Faso at Stade Me Abdoulaye Wade on Friday.
Aliou Cisse's men raced to an early lead through Sadio Mane and should have been well and truly out of sight before Ousseni Bouda struck in second-half stoppage time to force a share of the spoils.
While Cisse would have been disappointed to see his side drop two points, the Lions of Teranga are now unbeaten in 12 of their last 13 matches, with the only defeat in that time coming at the Africa Cup of Nations against host nation Ivory Coast.
The 2021 champions are expected to be one of the major contenders to take home next year's continental prize and will be keen to sign off on September's round of qualifying matches with all three points.
Monday's clash against Burundi will be the third AFCON qualifier featuring the teams, and Senegal will fancy their chances of continuing their perfect record in this fixture having won both of the previous two meetings by a combined score of 5-1.
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Burundi just about did enough to fend off the challenge of Malawi and come away with maximum points from a thrilling five-goal encounter in Thursday's clash between the teams.
Chimwemwe Idana's own goal and a Jean Claude Girumugisha effort were cancelled out by strikes from Chawanangwa Kaonga and Lanjesi Nkhoma before Mokono Eldhino grabbed the decisive winner to spark celebrations for Etienne Ndayiragije's men.
Off the back of a dismal run of five games across all competitions without a victory, Les Hirondelles have now won consecutive games for the first time since 2020 and are without defeat in four straight outings.
Having kicked off their quest to make it through to the AFCON finals for the first time since 2019 on a positive note, Burundi will be looking to use their momentum to take yet another step in the right direction towards booking their ticket to Morocco.
Team News
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Mokono Eldhino could be rewarded with a place in the starting lineup here after coming off the bench to open his Burundi account and net the winner against Malawi.
Bienvenue Kanakimana will be looking to deliver the goods once again having racked up three direct goal contributions—two goals and one assist—in his last two international matches.
Sadio Mane scored for a third straight game in a Senegal shirt last time out to move up to 44 goals and extend his lead at the top of the all-time scoring charts.
Mane has also found the back of the net in his previous two appearances against Burundi, making the 32-year-old one to keep an eye on here.
With Edouard Mendy not in contention, Seny Dieng was given the nod to feature between the sticks and will be expected to retain his place in the XI.
Burundi possible starting lineup:
Nkurunziza; Musore, Ndayishimiye, Nsabiyumva, Manirakoze; Mossi, Mussa; Girumugisha, Ntibazonkiza, Kanakimana; Shabani
Senegal possible starting lineup:
Dieng; Diarra, Seck, Koulibaly, Diallo; P Sarr, I Gueye, P Gueye, I Sarr; Jackson, Mane
We say: Burundi 0-2 Senegal
Senegal were far from their best against Burkina Faso and were made to pay for their complacency.
However, we are backing Cisse's men to resume normal service in this one and get the job done at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
