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.
