Friday's Africa Cup of Nations predictions and free football tips: Senegal can sail through to the knockout stage

Where to watch

Cape Verde v Mozambique
Sky Sports Main Event & Football, 2pm Friday

Senegal v Cameroon
Sky Sports Main Event & Football, 5pm Friday

Guinea v Gambia
Sky Sports Premier League, 8pm Friday

Best bets

Senegal
2pts 19-20 bet365, Betfair

Guinea
1pt 23-20 bet365

Africa Cup of Nations football predictions

Defending champions Senegal got off to a strong start at Afcon 2023 with a fairly comfortable 3-0 victory over Gambia and they can wrap up qualification for the knockout rounds by defeating Cameroon in Yamoussoukro.

Senegal were among the pre-tournament favourites and they will have taken plenty of confidence from their opening Group C encounter.

The Lions of Teranga lined up with a powerful front three of Ismaila Sarr, Habib Diallo and Sadio Mane, but attacking midfielder Lamine Camara stole the spotlight with two superbly taken second-half goals.

Rising star Camara has the ability to take the tournament by storm and the general wealth of Senegalese attacking options must be a concern for Cameroon, who are in a sticky situation after being held to a 1-1 draw by Guinea in their opening match.

The Indomitable Lions are five-times tournament winners but they have a battle on their hands to get beyond the group stage.

Cameroon should be able to call on first-choice goalkeeper Andre Onana, who was heavily criticised after arriving at the tournament just hours before his team-mates' opening game.

But they have major doubts over the fitness of key striker Vincent Aboubakar, who missed the Guinea match due to an injury picked up in training.

Rigobert Song's side largely struggled against Guinea, who were reduced to ten men by Francois Kamano's first-half red card.

They face a much more difficult task against the champions and are unlikely to avoid a damaging defeat.

Guinea emerged with a lot of credit from their draw against Cameroon and they can follow up with a victory over Gambia.

The National Elephants will have to make an enforced change due to Kamano's suspension and they are unsure about the fitness of star attacker Serhou Guirassy (hamstring), who was unable to play any part in their opening game.

Any team would miss a player of Guirassy's quality but Guinea were much better than Cameroon when it was 11 versus 11 and they could still make an impact on the tournament.

Gambia will be in for a tough match and are likely to suffer a second successive defeat, resulting in their elimination from the tournament.

Cape Verde opened up with a shock 2-1 victory over Ghana in Group B and are favourites to chalk up another three points when taking on Mozambique in Abidjan.

Mozambique claimed a surprise 2-2 draw against Egypt on Sunday but they are sweating on the fitness of attacker Clesio Bauque, who appeared to suffer a hamstring strain against the Pharaohs.

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