Ivory Coast vs Algeria: Kickoff time, venue, team news, predictions - AFCON 2021 Preview

Defending champions Algeria are only hanging on to the competition by a thread with only one point from their first two matches at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) so far. 

Thus, the Desert Foxes must win against the Elephants of Ivory Coast in their final Group E game at the Japoma Stadium in Douala on Thursday.

There is still a lot riding on the final Group E matches as all the teams could still end up at the top of the table. Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone have three and two points respectively.

Algeria comes into this match hurt, having lost their 35-match unbeaten run in their last outing against Equatorial Guinea in a 1-0 defeat for Djamel Belmadi's side.

Ivory Coast comes into this match having won three of their last five games with one draw and one defeat. In those games, they have scored eight goals and conceded four times. 

Algeria posts the same results from their last five games with three victories, one draw and one loss. The Desert Foxes have scored eight goals and conceded twice in that time.

Ivory Coast and Algeria have met four times at the AFCON finals with the North Africans edging the West Africans with two wins against Ivory Coast's one victory and one draw. 

The Ivory Coast Vs. Algeria game is scheduled to be held on Thursday, January 20 at the Japoma Stadium in Douala by 5 pm Nigerian time.

Ivory Coast has two injury concerns with Eric Bailly unsure after picking up a knock against Sierra Leone. Goalkeeper Ali Badra Sangare is also not certain about this match after injuring himself during his goalkeeping howler in the previous match. 

Algeria has a clean bill of health going into this match and will hope that Riyad Mahrez and Co. would finally score their first goal of the tournament. 

Algeria Possible Starting XI: Rais M'Bolhi; Youcef Atal, Aissa Mandi, Djameleddine Benlamri, Ramy Bensebaini; Ismael Bennacer, Sofiane Bendebka; Riyad Mahrez, Sofiane Feghouli, Mohamed Youcef Belaili; Baghdad Bounedjah.

Ivory Coast Possible Starting XI: Abdoul Karim Cisse; Serge Aurier, Willy Boly, Simon Deli, Konan; Ibrahim Sangare, Jean Michael Seri, Franck Kessie; Wilfried Zaha, Sebastien Haller, Nicolas Pepe

Ivory Coast needs only one point from this game to book their spot in the Round-of-16 but has the better attacking set-up. 

Algeria has been misfiring and it is difficult to see them picking a win against the Ivorians. The match is likely to end in a 1-1 draw with the defending champions crashing out of the competition.