France v Netherlands: Back Mbappé to score at odds-against on the Exchange

• Mbappé the new captain of France

• Dutch have long unbeaten run inside 90 minutes

• Back France skipper to score

Dion Charles bagged a brace for Northern Ireland, keeping our winning run going this week as Northern Ireland's 2-0 win at San Marino landed the Bet Builder at odds-against.

We'll stay with the EURO 2024 qualifiers, and focus on the Netherlands' trip to France.

France v Netherlands
Friday 24 March, 19:45
Live on Viaplay Sports 1

Mbappé leading the new era

PSG superstar Kylian Mbappé is painted by some as a diva, a demanding strop-merchant who uses his star power to bend his club and country's decision-makers to his wishes.

I believe the truth to be somewhat different. This is a young man who has already packed in a lot of success (a World Cup winner and the scorer of a hat-trick in a second World Cup final) and understandably wants agency over his career.

Yes, he is demanding, but only in a way that almost all elite athletes across sport place huge demands on themselves and others.

His handling of being given the France captaincy ahead of Antoine Griezmann is a case in point.

He insisted he'll lead side-by-side with his new vice-captain, and that he has huge respect for someone with the Atletico Madrid forward's quality and experience.

Mbappé certainly has a merit-based case to be the skipper, with 36 goals in 66 caps.

Deschamp holds off Zidane

France only lost the World Cup final on penalties, and long-serving Les Bleus coach Didier Deschamps has seen off the lingering challenge of Zinedine Zidane, keeping his role until at least next year's Euros.

His contract actually lasts until 2026, and he has already had 11 years in the job.

France were unbeaten in the World Cup qualifiers, although their Nations League campaign was a debacle, as they narrowly avoided relegation from the top tier.

That ignominy has been largely forgotten because of a World Cup campaign in Qatar that saw the French come within a couple of penalty kicks of being crowned as world champions for a second time.

Premier League-based centre-backs William Saliba and Wesley Fofana are both out with injury.

Despite a slight slump in his form with Real Madrid, midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni has been publicly backed by Deschamps, and could start here.

Koeman hoping to liven up the Oranje

After his largely disastrous spell at Barcelona, Ronald Koeman is back at the helm of the Netherlands, and he has clear ideas about how the team should be playing.

He wants to be more expansive than his veteran predecessor Louis van Gaal, and it is telling that the likes of Memphis Depay and Gini Wijnaldum have suggested they'll enjoy playing more in Koeman's style.

That isn't even necessarily a dig at van Gaal, who is hugely respected and led the Oranje to the knockout phase of the World Cup, only losing on penalties to eventual winners Argentina.

However, Koeman is perhaps more willing to stick to the Netherlands' long-held stylistic principles.

Van Gaal sifted through the wreckage of the Frank de Boer era to lead the team to qualification for the World Cup, and they won their Nations League group, so Koeman returns to a team that's in good shape.

They haven't lost inside 90 minutes since a 2-0 defeat to the Czech Republic under de Boer at EURO 2020.

Frenkie de Jong is out injured, while right-back Denzel Dumfries in suspended. With van Gaal's back three becoming a back four, Nathan Ake might get pushed out to left-back, with Virgil van Dijk and Matthijs de Ligt in the centre.

French too short in high-quality clash

France are 1.768/11 to win this, and that seems a little short against a Dutch side that is generally so hard to beat.

Instead of backing the hosts to take the win, I'll rely on Mbappé's sense of occasion.

He can be backed at 2.245/4 to score at any time, and he has found the net six times across his last six games for PSG.

At the World Cup finals, the Bondy boy rattled in eight goals, including that sparkling hat-trick in the final.

With Dumfries suspended and Bayer Leverkusen's Jeremie Frimpong derided as a poor defender by Koeman, right-back is a problem area for the Oranje, and Mbappé should enjoy raiding down the French left.