Preview: Guinea vs. Gambia - prediction, team news, lineups

Group C has been labelled the group of death in this year's competitions, and Senegal have shot out to an early lead, having secured the only win in the group during the first round of matches.

Match preview

Guinea have been one of the most improved sides in Africa over recent years, and they put on another impressive display in their first match when they took a point off Cameroon despite going into the match as underdogs.

In fact, most neutral onlookers would likely argue that the National Elephants deserved all three points as they matched their opponents every step of the way and had them on the ropes just before the final whistle.

Even without the services of their talisman Serhou Guirassy, Guinea took the lead in the match through Mohamed Bayo inside the first 10 minutes and were bossing play until a needless tackle saw Francois Kamano sent off moments before the interval.

Kaba Diawara was visibly pleased with the overall result, though, and will know that a win here will almost certainly secure his side a spot in the knockout round with up to three teams per group allowed to qualify.

This match will mark the second time these sides meet in AFCON competition, with the previous meeting ending 1-0 in favour of Gambia during the Round of 16 in the 2022 edition of the tournament.

The Scorpions will need a similar performance to that last match in this one, or their hopes of making the last 16 in back-to-back AFCON tournaments will be fairly slim with Cameroon to come in their final group stage match.

However, based on their performance in their opening match of the competition, qualification for the knockout rounds looks like it will be challenging for Tom Saintfiet's side, who were completely outplayed by Senegal and ended up on the wrong side of a 3-0 scoreline.

After conceding an opening goal inside the first five minutes of the match, Gambia's afternoon got progressively worse, with Ebou Adams being shown a red card before the defending champions pulled out of sight with a brace from Lamine Camara.

With that result, The Scorpions have are now on a three-match losing streak following a 3-2 defeat to Burundi and a 2-0 loss against Ivory Coast during World Cup qualifying back in November.

Guinea Africa Cup of Nations form:

D

Guinea form (all competitions):

W

D

W

L

W

D

Gambia Africa Cup of Nations form:

L

Gambia form (all competitions):

W

W

D

L

L

L

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Team News

Kamano will be suspended for this match following his straight red against Cameroon, and he will likely be replaced by Morgan Guilavogui, who applies his trade at Ligue 1 club Lens.

Guirassy was not the only notable absentee in the first match as he was joined on the sideline by Liverpool's Naby Keita, who is returning from injury. Both players are still flagged as doubts for Friday's crucial encounter.

Adams's red card against Senegal will see him forced into a watching brief for this one, with Hamza Barry being the most likely to slot into the vacant midfield role alongside LASK's Ebrima Darboe.

Alieu Fadera and Assan Ceesay both started on the bench in the last match, with Ali Sowe being given the nod in attack, though Saintfiet may consider a switch-up here after the Ankaragucu forward failed to impress and was hauled off just after the hour mark.

Guinea possible starting lineup:

Kone; Conte, Diakhaby, Jeanvier, Sylla; Moriba, Konate; Guilavogui, Camara, Kante; Bayo

Gambia possible starting lineup:

Gaye; Janko, Gomez, Colley, Touray; Manneh, Marr, Darboe; Minteh, Barrow; Fadera

We say: Guinea 2-0 Gambia

Guinea were unlucky not to have got all three points against Cameroon in their opening match and will be eager to make amends for it in this one against a Gambia side that looked very poor against Senegal on Monday evening. We feel the National Elephants will put on another impressive display here and fancy them to secure their first win of the competition.

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