France vs Ivory Coast Prediction: The Elephants to take Les Bleus’ test seriously

France and Ivory Coast meet in Nantes for a friendly on Thursday (9:10pm local/8:10pm BST, Prime Video) before both teams jet off to North America for the FIFA World Cup finals. The hosts are the number one ranked side heading to the tournament as they seek their third title.

Read on for my France vs Ivory Coast predictions, supported by the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

France are sweating over the availability of defender William Saliba for the World Cup. The Arsenal star aggravated a back issue in last weekend's UEFA Champions League final.

Paris Saint-Germain stars Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Bradley Barcola, Warren Zaire-Emery and Lucas Hernandez could be rested by Didier Deschamps so they are fresh for the group stage.

Football Odds

Ivory Coast defender Clement Akpa has been ruled out of the World Cup through injury, so he has been replaced by Christopher Operi.

Simon Adingra and Liverpool transfer target Yan Diomande may start on the flanks for the Elephants.

France vs Ivory Coast Odds

France have won two of the previous three meetings and they are the 2/7 favourites to triumph here.

The draw can be backed at 4/1, while Ivory Coast are an 8/1 bet to come away with the victory.

Two of the three encounters have gone Over 2.5 Goals, which is available on this occasion at 4/7.

Both Teams To Score - Yes @ EVS

I think both these teams have high hopes for the upcoming World Cup. I have already gone early in predicting France to win the the tournament, but I do think Ivory Coast can have a good tournament themselves.

The Elephants made it to the quarter-finals at the Africa Cup of Nations earlier in the year, and I think their attacking stars can cause issues for teams over the coming weeks.

The top seed gives them a good challenge right before the action starts, and I believe the visitors will take this friendly seriously.

France's attacking quality in depth may be far superior, but I fancy the visitors to get on the scoresheet. I'm covering BTTS - Yes because it landed the last time the sides met. It has also been a winning selection in three of Ivory Coast's six most recent outings, as well as three of Les Bleus' past four matches.

Anytime Goalscorer - Marcus Thuram @ 11/10

All eyes are on Kylian Mbappe at the moment because he is one goal away from joining Olivier Giroud (57) as France's all-time top scorer. It's very much a case of when not if with this scenario but I'm not looking at the Real Madrid man to find the net on Thursday.

Instead I'm turning to Marcus Thuram. I think he's likely to start up front in this game and he has just had another productive season with Inter Milan, netting 13 goals in Serie A.

Thuram was also on the scoresheet in France's previous game against Colombia in March.