Cote d’Ivoire will go head-to-head against Nigeria at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in their second group-stage match of the Africa Cup of Nations 2023 (AFCON) on Thursday.

Cote d’Ivoire, the hosts for this edition of the continental competition, got their campaign underway with a 2-0 win over Guinea-Bissau. Seko Fofana opened the scoring in the fourth minute of the match while Jean-Philippe Krasso doubled the hosts’ lead in the 58th minute.

Nigeria had a rather disappointing start to their campaign as they were held to a 1-1 draw by a resilient Equatorial Guinea. Napoli striker Victor Osimhen, assisted by Ademola Lookman, equalized within two minutes of Equatorial Guinea taking the lead.

The three-time winners had themselves to blame at the end of the 90 minutes for a draw as they were quite wasteful in front of the goal, scoring just once from their seven shots on target.

Cote d’Ivoire vs Nigeria Head-to-Head and Key Numbers

• The two teams have a long-standing rivalry and have squared off 27 times across all competitions since 1967. The hosts have a narrow 9-8 lead in the head-to-head record while 10 games have ended in draws.
• Both teams have two wins apiece in the last four meetings in this fixture, with the hosts recording a 1-0 win in the friendly, when they last met in 2015.
• They last met in the AFCON in the 2013 quarter-finals, with Nigeria recording a 2-1 win. They would go on to lift their third and last title a week later.
• Host nations have only lost one of their last 38 group-stage games at the Africa Cup of Nations (W23 D14), which bodes well for the 1992 and 2015 champions.
• The Super Eagles have the upper hand in the six AFCON meetings against Cote d’Ivoire, with four wins (though two have come on penalties) and two games going the hosts’ way.
• Interestingly, Nigeria have made it to the finals in four of the six editions of the competition in which they have crossed paths against the hosts.

Cote d’Ivoire vs Nigeria Prediction

Les Éléphants got their campaign off to a winning start while also extending their unbeaten run across all competitions to seven games. Interestingly, their last two defeats at the AFCON have come in penalty shootouts, so they will look to avoid a loss in this match.

Sebastian Haller’s involvement in this match remains doubtful after he missed the campaign opener with a knee injury. Serge Aurier and Nicolas Pépé made appearances from the bench against Guinea-Bissau and might get the nod to start here.

The Super Eagles were held to a 1-1 draw in their campaign opener. They were wasteful in front of the goals with just seven of their 17 shots being on target. Osimhen alone accounted for six of these attempts and will be a key player here.

They have lost just one of their last 12 group stage games at the Africa Cup of Nations (W8 D3), failing to score just once in that period, and will look to build on that form.

Both teams have strong squads and are expected to contest this match closely. With that in mind and considering their head-to-head record, a draw might ensue.

Prediction: Cote d’Ivoire 2-2 Nigeria