The Super Eagles will battle it out with their West African neighbours Guinea on Wednesday in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations second Group B fixture.
Nigeria have failed to beat Guinea in their last four encounters in all competitions.
The three times champions of Africa started the 2019 AFCON campaign with a win against debutants Guinea and they would be looking forward to a second victory to cement their place in the knockout stage, but Guinea will come into this tie with all gun blazing after they were held to a draw against another debutants Madagascar.
Nigeria
Nigeria dominated debutants Burundi in their Group B opener but they struggled in front of goal until Odion Ighalo was introduced into the game. The former Watford striker registered the only goal of the game in the 77th minute to hand Nigeria all the three points.
Ighalo will be pushing for a starting spot after salvaging the Super Eagles the three points.
It has also emerged that Shehu Abdullahi’s campaign may have come to an early end because of a hamstring issue that will be monitored.
Guinea
Guinea came away from their Group B opener against Madagascar with a point that boss Paul Put described as “disappointing” after throwing away a one-goal lead at the Alexandria Stadium.
Put coach of Guinea has called on his players to cut out the sloppy errors if they are to have any chance of claiming a positive result against Nigeria, knowing that defeat to the Super Eagles and victory for Madagascar over Burundi will see his side drop to third.
The Syli Nationale of Guinea suffered a setback in their opening game when they were held to a 1-1 draw by debutants Madagascar.
Paul Put is likely to unleash skipper and talisman for Guinea Naby Keita who made an impact as a substitute in their 2-2 draw against Madagascar on Nigeria since he seems to have fully recovered from the injury he suffered at Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League semis.
Guinea played well in large patches against Madagascar and will need to match the energy they played when they face Nigeria.
Guinea are now winless in their last six games in the Africa Cup of Nations, drawing four of those. Their last success in the competition came back in 2012 against Botswana.
Head to head
Nigeria and Guinea have played 15 times in all competition.
Guinea have won five, whereas Nigeria have four wins, with six ending in draws.
The Super Eagles only AFCON meeting against the Syli Nationale was in 1976. It ended in one all.
The Super Eagles are winless in their last four meetings with Guinea in all competitions after losing none of the previous eight.
