FRANCE will be concerned about playing England in the World Cup quarter-finals on Saturday, according to Liverpool legend Graeme Souness.
The reigning world champions booked their place in the last-eight with a convincing 3-1 win over Poland on Sunday .
Just hours later, the Three Lions set up a meeting with Didier Deschamps men by swatting Senegal aside 3-0 in Doha.
And while France go into the quarter-final against England as the favourites, Souness believes they will not be comfortable facing Gareth Southgate ‘s side.
Speaking on ITV on Monday, he said: “ France will be concerned about playing against England .
“England are the team that no one wants to play.
“You can’t sit back and say ‘I’m really enjoying that football’, like you would with Spain, and possibly tonight [referencing Brazil].
“But I’ll bet you none of the big teams want to play against England because they see how pragmatic they are, they give very few chances away.”;
England have scored 12 goals in four games at the World Cup - more than any other team.
They have also kept three successive clean sheets since conceding two against Iran in their opening match.
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But France boast a plethora of talent including the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud, Ousmane Dembele, Aurelien Tchouameni and Dayot Upamecano.
And they are led by their talisman Kylian Mbappe - who has nine goals in 11 World Cup games.
England have also beaten France just once in their previous eight meetings - with that victory coming in a friendly seven years ago.
At major tournaments, France are unbeaten in each of their last three games against the Three Lions - a run which stretches back to 1982.
The two sides played out a goalless draw at the 1992 European Championships, before France beat Sven Goran Eriksson’s men 2-1 in the group stage of the Euros 12 years later.
Their most recent clash at a major tournament then came in 2012 when they met in a Euros group once more, drawing 1-1 before both sides were knocked out in the quarter-finals.
