After the opening weekend of Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) action on Saturday and Sunday, the games keep coming with three more on Monday. Amongst the highlights will be Senegal starting the defence of their continental crown, and with the winners of AFCON 2021 fancied at 3/10 to get off to a winning start, you have to delve a bit deeper to get some decent value for money in AFCON 2023 group stage betting markets.
We then have two more games – Cameroon vs Guinea and Algeria vs Angola – and they too look like open and shut cases on paper. This opens up some more opportunities to put together an accumulator themed on handicaps and first scorers.
AFCON 2023 group stage betting – dropping odds
Sadio Mane to score anytime vs Gambia
Senegal will look to win back-to-back titles this tournament after a sensational campaign in 2021 saw the nation let in just three goals. That itself makes a Senegal win to-nil well worth backing. Yet, that is not where the real value lies in our opinion.
The nation’s all-time goalscorer Sadio Mane is now 11/8 (2.38) to score against Gambia. The ex-Liverpool superstar is still in top form, despite his exit from European football and move to the Saudi Pro League. Alongside Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr, Mane has racked up eight goals and four assists from 18 league matches.
We’ve already taken a closer look at his progress in AFCON tournaments, and the impressive statistics he’s racked up.
Cameroon to beat Guinea with a -1 handicap
Cameroon are at odds of 21/20 just to win their game against Guinea after finishing third on home soil two years ago. This gives bettors a good chance to delve into the markets in this game, and the Indomitable Lions are at 7/2 (4.5) to win against a -1 handicap.
We’ve also looked at Vincent Aboubakar to get involved. The Cameroon legend was in excellent form at the previous AFCON – albeit one held in his home country – scoring eight goals across six games.
Mahrez to score anytime vs Angola
Ahead of this tournament, Algeria have not been talked about as much as the likes of hosts Ivory Coast, a Victor Osimhen-powered Nigeria and champions Senegal. But nothing less than three points is expected for Mahrez will no doubt be in the thick of the action, with the former Manchester City man at 7/4 (2.25) to score in the game.
With the likes of Islam Slimani (4/1 to score first) and Mahrez heading to the tournament once again, we could easily see the 2019 champions get right amongst the favourites once more. You can now also get odds of 6/4 (2.5) for Algeria to win against a -1 handicap, which we believe also represents an increase in value for money.
Final accumulator value
By combining all of the odds in bold shown above, you can put together an attractive accumulator with odds of approximately 57/2.
