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England told four 'concerning' France players who they can exploit in World Cup clash
England will play France in the World Cup quarter-finals on Saturday.
England beat Senegal to set up World Cup quarter-final against holders France
England can exploit France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris in their crunch World Cup quarter-final on Saturday according to former Three Lions star Chris Sutton. The ex-Chelsea, Blackburn and Celtic striker also believes Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele can be exposed as they leave Les Blues open defensively.
France have enjoyed a good start to the tournament so far, coasting to the last eight with relatively few issues. Les Blues have won three out of their four matches, scoring nine in the process, with the only major blot in their copybook coming as a result of their 1-0 defeat to Tunisia as Didier Deschamps made wholesale changes with qualification already secured.
They have also shown some weaknesses defensively, failing to keep a clean sheet during the competition. Sutton argues this is something England can look to exploit as Gareth Southgate looks to mastermind a way to the semi-finals, with Lloris and the team’s attacking trio particular concerns.
In his column for the Daily Mail, he wrote: “My one concern: France haven't kept a clean sheet at this World Cup and though they're a team packed with talented players, I'm still not convinced by Hugo Lloris in goal. Another concern is, out of possession, Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele aren't the hardest workers when it comes to tracking back.”
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Mbappe has arguably been the player of the tournament so far, scoring five times and generally terrorising opposition full-backs. Much of the talk ahead of the quarter-final has revolved around how to stop him, with Kyle Walker likely to be handed the task.
However, France midfielder Adrien Rabiot has been keen to stress there is more to the team than the PSG star, despite his obvious quality.
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“We are not dependent on him,” he said earlier this week. “He has amazing potential and we know that 90% of the goals can maybe come from him. He is very fast, able to make great assists but we also have other players who can make a difference on the pitch in another way. We have a great weapon in Kylian and we’re not going to deprive ourselves of that.”
England’s quarter-final against France will kick-off at 7pm on Saturday with the match broadcast live on ITV1. The winners will play either Morocco or Portugal in the semi-finals as they look to take one step closer to lifting the most prestigious trophy in football.