Seeking to become the first African nation to confirm their place at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Morocco take on Guinea at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium on Tuesday.
Guinea, on the other hand, are still in search of their first World Cup qualifying victory off the back of three consecutive stalemates.
Match preview
© Reuters
Morocco moved within three points of the finish line courtesy of a comfortable 3-0 victory over Guinea-Bissau at the Stade Mohammed V on Saturday.
Goals in either half from Ayoub El Kaabi either side of a Aymen Barkok strike got the job done for Vahid Halilhodzic's men in Casablanca.
With maximum points from their first three outings, the Atlas Lions remain top of Group I midway through the qualifiers, five points ahead of Guinea-Bissau.
Next up for the north Africans is a clash versus an opposing side who they have beaten in each of the last two meetings between the teams.
Tuesday's visitors claimed a 1-0 friendly win in the most recent encounter back in January and a repeat performance in this one would guarantee them a place in Qatar next year.
Guinea were involved in a share of the spoils for the third game running following a thrilling 2-2 draw versus Sudan at the Stade Adrar on Saturday.
Didier Six's men took the lead twice thanks to Jose Kante and Mohamed Bayo but were pegged back on each occasion courtesy of strikes from Mohamed Abdelrahman and Salaheldin Nemer.
Despite having not tasted defeat, the National Elephants currently sit third, six points behind their next opponents, who are the only other unbeaten side in the group.
Aiming to become the first side to breach their visitors in 10 matches, Tuesday's hosts have it all to do at the attacking end of the pitch where they have only managed to score four times in three games.
- D
- D
- D
- L
- W
- W
- D
- D
- D
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Off the back of his double last time out, Ayoub El Kaabi will be looking to come up trumps for his side just as he did in the last contest between Tuesday's opponents where he scored the winner.
Still yet to concede a goal in the qualifiers, Halilhodzic is expected to stick with the back four of Achraf Hakimi, Nayef Aguerd, Romain Saiss and Adam Masina.
Mohamed Bayo has netted in each of his last two appearances for Guinea and the 23-year-old forward is one to keep an eye on in this one.
Skipper Naby Keita is in line to feature once again after the Liverpool midfielder returned to the starting XI for the game against Sudan.
Guinea possible starting lineup:
Camara; Sylla, Pogba, M.Camara, Sow; Cisse, Diawara, Keita; A.Camara, Bayo, Kante
Morocco possible starting lineup:
Bono; Masina, Saiss, Aguerd, Hakimi; Louza, Chair, Amrabat, Barkok; El Kaabi, Mmaee
We say: Guinea 0-2 Morocco
Morocco have been imperious at both ends of the pitch, scoring for fun while also keeping clean sheets. We fancy them to secure all three points in this one at the sound of the final whistle and confirm their spot at next year's global event.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Guinea win with a probability of 38.58%. A win for Morocco had a probability of 38.09% and a draw had a probability of 23.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Guinea win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.37%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (6.44%) and 2-0 (5.21%). The likeliest Morocco win was 1-2 (8.31%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.34%). The actual scoreline of 1-4 was predicted with a 1.8% likelihood.
