No underdog or favourite as Euro heavyweights battle
Neither England nor France sees a clear favourite as both teams prepare to face one another in a highly-anticipated World Cup quarter-final.
The Three Lions and Les Bleus each eased through the last 16, beating Senegal and Poland respectively to set up a far trickier tie in the next round.
Although England has won both of the sides' previous World Cup meetings, France has lost just one of the past eight between the nations in all competitions.
Didier Deschamps' side is the reigning champion – the first holder to feature in a quarter-final since Brazil in 2006.
Meanwhile, Gareth Southgate is hoping to become the first England manager to go to two World Cup semi-finals, and Kyle Walker – on whom there is plenty of focus ahead of a battle with Kylian Mbappe – cannot split the two teams.
"We're playing the world champions, but we are two good teams that will go toe to toe," the England right-back said.
"You've seen what can happen in 90-plus minutes.
"There have been shocks and for us this is just another game. We take our hat off to them as world champions, but each and every one of us will not be rolling that red carpet out for them to treat it as a theatre.
"We have great talent – talk about the goals we have scored and the clean sheets that we've kept. In my eyes, neither team is the underdogs or the favourites."
It is an assessment France midfielder Adrien Rabiot agrees with, even if England has been eliminated from six of its past eight World Cup knockout matches against fellow European nations.
"They are a team that has the same characteristics as us, very fast on the wings, with attacking full-backs, midfielders who can get forward, and [Declan] Rice looks a bit like [Aurelien] Tchouameni," Rabiot said.
"I am not sure that we should say that we have to be careful. They will also be very careful because we have the possibility of putting them in difficulty.
"It's an open game with two teams who know how to counter.
"What can make a difference is set-pieces. They are very good, we will have to be vigilant and not make the same mistakes as against Denmark.
"They have weapons, but we are not inferior."
