Australia vs Tunisia Odds: Preview & Predictions As Socceroos Look To Bounce Back

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Australia vs Tunisia Odds: Preview & Predictions As Socceroos Look To Bounce Back
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Australia vs Tunisia Predictions:


The Socceroos will bid to bounce back from a heavy defeat to France when they take on Tunisia at the Al Janoub Stadium on Saturday.

Betting sites make Graham Arnold’s men the 3.75 underdogs for this crucial game, so they will need to dig deep.

Defeat would leave Australia bottom of the group, with no chance of reaching the knockout stage of the competition, whereas victory would galvanise their campaign.

The stakes are high, and this should prove to be a popular event at home, as it takes place at the friendly time of 9 pm AEDT on Saturday.

We have analysed the key betting markets for the Socceroos’ second World Cup group stage match and provided tips for each of them.

Can Australia Reignite Their Campaign With A Win Over Tunisia?

Neither team can afford to lose this match, and they may ultimately end up cancelling one another out.

Tunisia are 30th in the FIFA world rankings, eight places above the Socceroos, but these teams look evenly matched.

The Socceroos made a bright start against France in their opener, and they deserved their early lead, but they were ultimately put to the sword by the brilliance of Kylian Mbappé in their 4-1 defeat to Les Bleus.

Any defence would struggle against Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud, but Australia will not face such a stern test of their mettle against Tunisia.

The Eagles of Carthage are a defensive-minded team, without much quality in attack. Their main goal threat is Montpellier striker Wahbi Khazri, but he has never been particularly prolific during his career.

Tunisia did not pose much of a threat going forward during their 0-0 draw with Denmark, and this could be another tight clash.

The betting is reasonably close - Betfair has 2.1 on Tunisia, 3.25 on the draw and 3.75 on the Socceroos - and a draw is the most appealing bet.

Tip: Draw - 3.25 With Betfair

Back Under 2.5 Goals

Graham Arnold

Tunisia’s 0-0 draw with Denmark was a dull, underwhelming affair, with very little goalmouth action of note.

We have now seen a lot of low-scoring draws at this tournament, including a tense clash between the USA and Wales, a stalemate between Mexico and Poland and another 0-0 between Morocco and Croatia.

This looks like another game that will have under 2.5 goals. Tunisia were up against pretty weak teams in their African qualifying group, but their games still saw just 2.17 goals on average.

They then beat Mali 1-0 on aggregate in a two-legged playoff clash to secure a place at the World Cup.

It was a similar story for the Socceroos, who held Peru to a 0-0 draw before winning the penalty shootout courtesy of Andrew Redmayne’s antics.

First-choice goalkeeper Mathew Ryan was excellent against France, despite conceding four goals, and both defences are solid, so under 2.5 goals on World Cup betting sites looks appealing.

Tip: Under 2.5 Goals - 1.57 With Betfair

Who Will Score When The Socceroos take on Tunisia?

Arnold favours an unusual 4-1-4-1 formation, with Aaron Mooy serving as the holding midfield in front of a four-man defence.

That leaves four players in advanced positions supporting a lone striker, so it is a reasonably bold and ambitious approach.

It paid off in the early stages of Australia’s clash against France, as right winger Mathew Leckie crossed for left winger Craig Goodwin to fire in the opener.

They were the Socceroos’ most dangerous players against Les Bleus, and it is worth noting that Arnold substituted every member of his attacking quintet apart from Leckie in the second half.

Mitchell Duke was quiet up front and cult hero Jason Cummings was not much better when he came on - his performance was described as “minging” by one former Socceroo.

In short, Leckie looks like Australia’s danger man in attack, despites his outside odds on the best football betting sites.

He has scored more international goals than anyone else in the current squad - 13 in 74 appearances - and if anyone is likely to break the deadlock on Saturday, it is him.

Tip: Mathew Leckie To Score - 10.0 With Unibet

Best Betting Sites

Value Available In The Corners Market

One interesting aspect of Tunisia’s 0-0 draw with Denmark was their predilection for bombing down the flanks.

Ali Abdi and Mohamed Dräger produced vibrant performances as wing-backs, while captain Youssef Msakni and Anis Ben Slimane also drifted out wide in a bid to overload the Danish full-backs.

It resulted in Tunisia winning a whopping nine corners during the match with Denmark. 

It is reasonable to expect them to earn more than 5.5 corners against Australia, who gave up eight corners when pinned back by Mbappé and Dembélé in their clash with France, and the odds on Australian betting sites are appealing.

Tip: Over 5.5 Corners For Tunisia - 2.3 With Unibet

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Martin Green

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