Egypt vs Zimbabwe Prediction: Salah and Co. to start as they mean to go on

The last few weeks have been manic for Mohamed Salah due to his public outburst over being dropped by Liverpool, which brought upon him scrutiny for never winning the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt. He will be hoping the 2025 edition in Morocco is where he can change the script.

Egypt take on Zimbabwe in Group B on Monday (20:00 GMT, 4seven) as the Pharaohs look to get off to a positive start. Below you will find my Egypt vs Zimbabwe predictions, accompanied by the latest match odds and team news.

Team News

Salah is very much the face of Egypt and the talisman is set to start in attack here as he looks to reignite his season after a difficult period with Liverpool. He is chasing down his country's all-time leading goalscorer and current manager Hossam Hassan (69) with Salah sat on 61 goals at this moment in time.

Hassan knows Salah will be key to any success his team can achieve this winter but he is likely going to be disappointed when he loses his record.

Salah Egypt's talisman but he only scored two goals in qualifying, which was half of the total Trezeguet managed.

Boss Hassan must also pick between Omar Marmoush and Mostafa Mohamed to spearhead the attack - and the latter may have the edge because of his four goals in the 2023 edition in the Ivory Coast.

Football Odds

Zimbabwe have no fresh concerns heading into their opening fixture and a familiar face should feature in the engine room for the Warriors, and that is Marvelous Nakamba of Luton Town.

With 26 goals for Zimbabwe, a lot of pressure will be on veteran forward Knowledge Musona's shoulders over the next few weeks. No other player in the squad has more than seven goals for the Warriors.

Egypt vs Zimbabwe Odds

Egypt have won each of the last six meetings with Zimbabwe, including a group stage clash at the 2019 Afcon which was held on home turf. They are 3/10 to come out on top here. They are 8/11 (implied probability of 57.9%) to win to nil, which was the case in that encounter six years ago.

The draw is priced at 16/5, while Zimbabwe are 9/1 to spring a surprise.

Today's Football Fixtures

Handicap +1 - Egypt -1 @ 11/10

When it comes to the first game of a major tournament, it is more about the result than the performance. Egypt won't mind if they are not completely at their best as long as they can get off to a winning start.

Given their recent track record against Monday's opponents, the favourites should fancy themselves to pick up the three points. The Pharaohs are the third favourites to win the whole thing at 6/1 with Betfred, which gives us a clear indication of how this match should play out.

Salah alone is a force to be reckoned with, but when you add the likes of Trezeguet, Marmoush and Mohamed, Egypt have a lot of quality to call upon in attack.

In seeking better value in an Egypt victory, I am backing them to triumph with a -1 handicap, which has been a successful bet in three of the last five contests with Zimbabwe.

Anytime Goalscorer - Trezeguet @ 7/4

Salah seems like the obvious choice when looking for a goalscorer in this clash, and while 1/1 is an appealing price, I am turning to his teammate Trezeguet.

As I mentioned earlier, the former Aston Villa man scored double Salah's goal tally in qualifying and I think he can be as instrumental for the Pharaohs over the next few weeks as Salah.

Trezeguet, who currently plays for Al Ahly, has scored 22 goals in 86 appearances for Egypt, second only Salah into this current squad. I think 7/4 offers good value for him to find the net in this Group B opener.

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