Austria vs France Preview

Nations League (UNL) defending champions France will travel to the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna this Friday to face Austria in the third group round of the new campaign.

The hosts opened this UNL campaign with a surprising 3-0 win over Croatia before succumbing to a narrow 2-1 loss to Denmark in their last game, leaving them sitting in second place in Group 1, two points ahead of their visitors.

They will now hope that they can keep their small chance of qualifying from this group alive by beating a France side that they have beaten in nine head-to-head meetings (D2, L12).

But Ralf Rangnick’s side have been held back in recent times by slow starts as in four of their last five home matches they were 1-0 down at half-time, and that’s despite not conceding before the 20th minute in any of their last seven home internationals (W2, D2, L3).

Sorting that problem could see them record back-to-back wins for the first time in 2022.

Meanwhile, France’s start to the Nations League campaign has been poor given the talent and quality they have in their squad.

The UNL defending champions opened their campaign with a 2-1 loss to Denmark, before being held to a 1-1 draw with Croatia in their last game, leaving them in third place in this group.

They will be desperate to bounce back in this game and boost their chances of finishing top of the group.

To do that, they must sort out their defending especially late in the game as they conceded after the 80th minute in their games against Denmark and Croatia.

Their away form which has seen them lose just one of their last 17 internationals away from France since June 2019 (W12, D4) means that they come into this tie as favourites.