England’s much-anticipated clash with France at the World Cup this weekend is akin to an "early final", according to former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
The Three Lions face the French at Al Bayt Stadium at 7pm on Saturday in their biggest test of the tournament. Gareth Southgate’s side have kept three straight clean sheets and are the top scorers in Qatar, but know the defending champions pose a considerable challenge.
France beat Poland 3-1 in the previous round thanks to two goals from Kylian Mbappe, who leads the race for the Golden Boot with five strikes. The Paris Saint-Germain forward is the star of Didier Deschamps' side, but Wenger believes he is far from the only strength they possess.
"France has a potential with regard to physical power which is clearly above that of other teams, with the possible exception of England," he told L'Equipe.
"In this sense, the midfielders, notably Jude Bellingham, can perform well. That’s why England are maybe the team that can cause the most damage to France in this competition. It’s an early final."
Bellingham has started all four of England’s matches so far, scoring in the 6-2 demolition of Iran and assisting Jordan Henderson's goal in the 3-0 win over Senegal last week. The 19-year-old midfielder has been one of England’s stand-out performers and will go up against Aurelien Tchouameni, Adrien Rabiot and Antoine Griezmann in the middle of the pitch.
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While Wenger is clear that England can trouble France, he is backing Les Bleus to come through the match and progress all the way to the final on December 18. “For six months, I’ve been saying that France can retain their title,” he said. “It’s a young squad, that’s hungry, which is not at the end of the road.”
The other quarter-finals see Croatia take on Brazil, Argentina face the Netherlands and Portugal play Morocco.
Southgate has hinted that he will not temper England’s attacking approach against France. “Yeah without a doubt,” he told ITV when asked whether they would maintain their current approach. “There is no point going into a game like this and just covering up and sitting on the ropes. We believe we can cause problems with the ball and we intend to do that.
“We’ve beaten some big teams. We know we have the experience of high-pressure nights behind us and as a team, we’ve been resilient through a lot of situations but they all prepare you for nights like this.
“We got to the first final for 55 years this is a quarter-final. We've won a semi-final and been to a semi-final of the World Cup before.
“But, of course, it is a big game against a high-quality opponent. Everything that has happened in the past is history, it all comes down to Saturday night.”
