Burkina Faso vs Gabon: Kickoff time, venue, team news, predictions - AFCON 2021 Round-of-16 Preview

The Round-of-16 fixtures for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) kick off with the fixture between the Stallions of Burkina Faso and the Panthers of Gabon as both teams aim to pick the first quarterfinal ticket.

This fixture pits the second-place finishers from Group A (Burkina Faso) and Group C (Gabon) against each other in what is one of the evenly-matched fixtures in this round. 

2013 finalists Burkina Faso will be hoping to get to the quarterfinals for only the fourth time in their history and on the three previous occasions that they have (1998, 2013, 2017) they have reached the last four (4th, 2nd, 3rd) respectively.

This is only the third time Gabon have progressed from the group stage and on both occasions (1996, 2012) that they got to the Round-of-16, they progressed to the quarterfinals but fell at the last 8.

Both sides did not have a stellar group stage with the Stallions posting one win, one draw and one loss while Gabon won against Comoros and drew against Ghana and Morocco.

This match is of particular interest to Nigerians as the winner would face the Super Eagles should Austin Eguavoen's side defeat Tunisia in the other Round-of-16 fixture on Sunday.

Kamou Malo's Burkina Faso side have just one win in their last five games, a 1-0 group stage victory over Cape Verde on Matchday 2. 

The Stallions have three draws and one loss in their other four games. They have scored in each of those five games (6 goals) and conceded six times also. 

Gabon posts the same form as their Sunday opponents, winning one, drawing three and losing one of their last five games.

The Panthers have also scored in each of their last five games (5 goals) and conceded six times.

Burkina Faso and Gabon have faced each only twice at the AFCON finals. Both encounters came in the group stage with Gabon winning 2-0 in 2015 and both sides playing out a 1-1 draw in 2017. 

Before this, they met in a doubleheader AFCON qualifiers in 2014 with Gabon posting a 2-0 victory at home in the first-leg and then drawing 1-1 in the second-leg away.

The Burkina Faso Vs. Gabon game is scheduled to be held on Sunday, January 23 at the Limbe Stadium in Limbe by 5 pm Nigerian time.

Burkina Faso has no injury concerns, not suspensions going into this game at the Limbe Stadium. 

Malo would also be expected to welcome Abdoul Tapsoba back into his starting line-up after resting the Standard Liege forward for the final group game against Ethiopia.

Gabon would have to rely on Aaron-Salem Boupendza and Jim Allevinah again in the absence of the withdrawn Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. 

Burkina Faso Possible Starting XI: Farid Ouedraogo; Issa Kabore, Issoufou Dayo, Edmond Tapsoba, Steeve Yago; Adama Guira, Ibrahim Blati Toure; Bertrand Traore, Gustavo Sangare, Cyrille Bayala; Abdoul Tapsoba

Gabon Possible Starting XI: Jean Noel Amonome; Junior Assoumou, Bruno Ecuele Manga, Lloyd Palun; Alex Moucketou-Moussounda, Johann Obiang, Guelor Kanga, Andre Biyogo Poko, Anthony Oyono; Jim Allevinah, Aaron Salem Boupendza

From their last five games to their group stage performance and their head-to-head encounters, there is little to separate both sides. 

This will be a keenly-contested match that will be historically low-scoring and likely to end in a draw. A 1-1 draw after extra-time is the expected scoreline with Gabon tipped to go through on penalties.