Africa Cup of Nations: Equatorial Guinea v Zambia Odds and Betting Preview

MALABO, EQUATORIAL GUINEA - Tournament co-hosts Equatorial Guinea put in a brilliant performance to knock favourites Senegal out of the competition last Wednesday, and now they sit on top of Group A before taking on Zambia in Malabo tonight.

Zambia go into the match as favourites, and are quoted at 7/5 to win after 90 minutes with William Hill and Boylesports, most likely because Equatorial Guinea are already through and Zambia will be wanting to avoid getting dumped out the competition by Libya, who play Senegal at the same time in Bata tonight. A draw would suit both sides here and has been strongly supported by ‘shrewd’ punters into 6/4 with Ladbrokes, and looks incredibly skinny at 5/4 with Sky Bet. A win for Equatorial Guinea in front of their home fans is on offer at 13/5 with Sky Bet, and would leave the players full of confidence going into their quarter-final in Bata.

Equatorial Guinea came into the tournament as 100/1 outsiders with bwin, but their two Group A victories have seen their outright odds come into 33/1 across the board. Kily Álvarez turned the hero on Wednesday to score what has been dubbed ‘the most important goal in Equatorial Guinea’s history’, which was a pretty good effort for a player who plays his football in the fourth tier of the Spanish league, completely eclipsing the big earners of Senegal such as Moussa Sow and Demba Ba. They are not the most spectacular side in the competition, far from it, but it will still be worth keeping an eye on captain Rodolfo Bodipo.

Zambia also created a stir when beating Senegal in their opener at Bata, as the young Emmanuel Mayuka opened the scoring having been available to back at 16/1 in the first goalscorer betting with bet365 before the match. Zambia play with plenty of heart and did well to battle back against Libya to claim a draw in their next tie. Hervé Renard’s men are the dark horses of the competition, and still have a decent chance of topping the group at 7/5 with bet365. They must not be complacent however, as a defeat tonight could see them leap-frogged by Libya for the second spot in the quarter-finals, although that seems fairly unlikely.

With a draw looking like a ‘convenient’ result for both sides, the 1-1 stalemate looks a tasty wager at 5/1 with Sky Bet and 188bet. 0-0 is also right up there in the betting at 11/2 with Irish firm Paddy Power, and 1-0 to Zambia comes next at 6/1 with 188bet. Zambia will be giving it their all, and are on offer at 11/1 with Stan James to win by two goals to nil. Conversely 1-0 to Equatorial Guinea is at 15/2 with bet365 and will interest punters who have been doing well by backing both of the host nations at the tournament thus far, as they have won four of the four matches they have played to date.

With a trappy encounter expected, bet365 looks the best place to go to place a bet on the first goalscorer of the game as they will refund bets if the match finishes in a ‘bore draw’. The online firm go 6/1 on Zambia’s Collins Mbesuma opening the scoring the first goal of the game, but captain Christopher Katongo makes slightly more appeal at 17/2 with Paddy Power having grabbed the equaliser against Libya for Zambia. The other player to watch out for is definitely 21-year-old striker Emmanuel Mayuka at 10/1 with bet365, as he already has a couple of goals to his name in the tournament. Fans of Equatorial Guinea may consider backing Javier Balboa to score first at 18/1 with bet365, who plays his club football in Portugal in Aveiro, although he has featured alongside Robinho for Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League.

Under 2.5 goals in strongly fancied at 4/9 with William Hill and Zambia are 4/1 with Ladbrokes to lead the game at half-time and full-time.

The match kicks-off at 7.00pm local time on Sunday 29 January, which is 6.00pm in the UK. It is live on British Eurosport.

Equatorial Guinea v Zambia Match Odds

Equatorial Guinea v Zambia HT/FT Odds

Equatorial Guinea v Zambia First Goalscorer Odds

Equatorial Guinea v Zambia Correct Score Odds