Denmark begin their World Cup campaign against Tunisia on Tuesday afternoon. Michael Beardmore picks out a best bet for the Group D opener.
Football betting tips: Denmark v Tunisia
2pts Denmark to win and Under 3.5 Goals at evens (Sky Bet)
There will be a fair amount of emotion surrounding Denmark's Group D curtain-raiser with Tunisia as Christian Eriksen makes his first international tournament finals appearance since the cardiac arrest that almost took his life at Euro 2020.
Somehow, the Danes put that near-tragedy behind them to reach the semi-finals, only missing out on reaching the final thanks to Harry Kane's extra-time penalty for England at Wembley, and they have gone from strength to strength since.
They qualified for the World Cup in imperious fashion, winning nine out of 10 matches before losing a dead-rubber to Scotland, and have won 11 out of 15 games since their Euro semi exit, including a Nations League double over world champions France.
No wonder, then, that they are very warm favourites to beat opening opponents Tunisia, a nation that has regularly reached the World Cup finals over the past quarter of a century but never once progressed past the group stages.
Don't expect the Danes to blow the north Africans away though - Tunisia have a fantastic defensive record over the past two years and while we have to put that partly down to the ordinariness of opposition on their own continent, it still merits respect.
If we put aside a 5-1 friendly defeat by Brazil, Tunisia have registered a whopping 17 clean sheets in 27 games since the 2021 African Cup of Nations, conceding just 12 goals during that sequence.
They beat Chile 2-0 and Japan 3-0 to win the Kirin Cup earlier this year too and it could well transpire that there will be worse bets this tournament than the 15/8 double chance on Tunisia to avoid defeat.
Nonetheless, it still seems likely that the Danes' superior quality should tell in this one, given the players they have at their disposal, making DENMARK TO WIN AND UNDER 3.5 GOALS a very attractive proposition at even money.
Denmark v Tunisia best bets and score prediction
- Denmark to win and Under 3.5 Goals at evens (Sky Bet)
Score prediction: Denmark 2-0 Tunisia (Sky Bet odds: 5/1)
Odds correct 1700 (17/11/22)
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