Kylian Mbappé missed France's open training session on Tuesday, but the Paris Saint-Germain superstar is expected to be fit for the world champions' quarter-final clash with England on Saturday.
England - France
- Kick-off: 19:00 GMT
France have got the defence of the FIFA World Cup they won in Russia in 2018 off to a flying start, winning every game apart from their final Group D encounter with Tunisia after their section was already won.
Les Bleus boast perhaps the strongest squad in the competition, but PSG man Mbappé has still managed to stand out among his teammates, his assist for Olivier Giroud before hitting a brace in a 3-1 win over Poland in the last 16 taking him to a tournament-high five goals.
Kylian the Great
Mbappé also has two assists in Qatar, giving him a goal-involvement of one every 42 minutes he has played. His strike partner Olivier Giroud - who recently overtook Thierry Henry as his nation's all-time top scorer on 52 goals - thinks there is nobody better.
"Kylian's obviously the best striker I've played with in my whole career," he said. "He's an amazing player and the scary thing is that he's still young and is only going to improve.
Watch: World Cup All-Stars - World XI | Ligue 1 Uber Eats
"We've still not seen the best of him, and I hope it'll come soon because we know that he's going to break all the records. Right from the beginning of this competition he's been crucial for us, very decisive and competitive. He's unbelievable."
"Kylian's out of this world with his skills," said Didier Deschamps' assistant Guy Stephan, going one further. "He's already scored nine goals at the World Cup and he's not even 24. Even [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Lionel] Messi hadn't scored that many at his age. He's among the absolute elite."
Still strong
France were already without Paul Pogba and N'Golo Kanté when Karim Benzema pulled out with injury on the eve of the tournament, and Lucas Hernandez ruptured his ACL in the opening 4-1 win over Australia.
It is testament to France's strength in depth that their best XI seems to pick itself regardless, with Giroud leading the line and Mbappé given license to roam from the left.
England are yet to play a three-/five-man defence at the tournament, but Kyle Walker could be shifted inside to play at right centre-back with Kieran Trippier given the nod up ahead should Gareth Southgate decide to double on the Mbappé threat.
Ben White and Raheem Sterling have both left the England camp in recent days on compassionate grounds.
Possible teams
England: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire; Trippier, Rice, Bellingham, Shaw; Saka, Kane, Foden
France: Lloris; Koundé, Varane, Upamecano, T. Hernandez; Tchouaméni, Rabiot; Dembélé, Griezmann, Mbappé; Giroud
READ: Is there any stopping Mbappé?
