TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Group A action resumes on Thursday, 18 January in Abidjan with another round of exciting fixtures.

Equatorial Guinea take on Guinea-Bissau while hosts, Cote d’Ivoire face Nigeria.

CAFOnline takes a look at some interesting facts and figures ahead of the resumption of the group matches.

Equatorial Guinea vs Guinea-Bissau | Alassane Ouattara Stadium, Abidjan

?      This will be the first encounter between Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations. It’s also the first time that any of the three Guineas in CAF (Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau) will face each other at the tournament.

?      Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau last met in March 2022, in Portugal. The friendly ended 3-0 to Guinea-Bissau.

?      Following their 1-1 draw against Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea could go unbeaten in their opening two games of a CAF Africa Cup of Nations for third time, out of four participations (W2 in 2012 and D2 in 2015), only failing to do so in 2022 (W1 L1).

?      Equatorial Guinea have scored in each of their last two games at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations and looking to do so in three consecutive matches in the competition for the very first time.

?      After their 0-2 defeat to Côte d'Ivoire in the opening game, Guinea-Bissau could lose both of their opening two matches of a CAF Africa Cup of Nations tournament for the first time.

?      Guinea-Bissau remain winless in 10 CAF Africa Cup of Nations games (D3 L7). Indeed, they have failed to score at all in their last eight since a 2-1 defeat to Cameroon in 2017.

?      Equatorial Guinea are unbeaten in their last three group stage games at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (W2 D1), they’ve never gone four such matches in a row without defeat in the competition.

?      Guinea-Bissau have had 88 shots and gone 797 minutes at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations without scoring a goal, since Piqueti’s 13^th minute strike against Cameroon in January 2017.

?      Against Nigeria, Iban Salvador became the first Equatorial Guinea player to either score or assist in three different CAF Africa Cup of Nations editions (two goals, one assist), indeed since his debut in the competition in 2015, no player has had more shots (19) or more goal involvements (3) for the National Thunder.

?      As well as creating a game-high four chances, no Guinea-Bissau player completed more passes ending in the final third (7), won more duels (6), or was fouled (3) more than Alfa Semedo against Côte d'Ivoire in the opening game of this year’s CAF Africa Cup of Nations.

Cote d’Ivoire vs Nigeria | Alassane Ouattara Stadium, Abidjan 

?      Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria are facing each other at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations for the seventh time. Their head-to-head record so far is perfectly balanced with two wins each, two draws and five goals each (penalty shoot-outs excluded).

?      The last time Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria met at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations was in 2013. Nigeria won 2-1 in the quarter-finals and went on to lift the trophy a week later.

?      The three previous meetings between Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria in the group stages of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations have produced only two goals (0-0 in 1980, 1-0 to Nigeria in 1990, 1-0 to Côte d'Ivoire in 2008).

?      After their 2-0 win over Guinea-Bissau on the opening game, Côte d'Ivoire are looking to win both of their opening two matches of a CAF Africa Cup of Nations tournament for the first time since the 2013 edition.

?      After their 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria could fail to win their opening two CAF African Cup of Nations for the first time since 2013 (D2), which was also the last time the Super Eagles lifted the trophy.

?      Host nations have only lost one of their last 38 group stage games at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (W23 D14), and are unbeaten in their last 17 (W9 D8) since Equatorial Guinea lost 0-1 to Zambia as joint-hosts in 2012.

?      Nigeria have lost just one of their last 12 group stage games at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (W8 D3), with their 2-0 defeat to Madagascar in 2019 the only time they’ve failed to score in this run.

?      After their goals against Guinea-Bissau, either Seko Fofana or Jean-Philippe Krasso could become the first player to score in both of Côte d’Ivoire’s first two matches of a CAF Africa Cup of Nations tournament since both Gervinho and Yaya Touré did so in 2013.

?      Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen scored his first goal at the Africa Cup of Nations last time out against Equatorial Guinea, he had six shots in the game, three times as many as any other player, while the last time a Nigerian player had more shots in a single group stage game in the competition was Peter Odemwingie (7) against Mozambique in January 2010.

?      Côte d'Ivoire’s Franck Kessié recorded his fourth assist in the CAF Africa Cup of Nations against Guinea-Bassau, indeed no player has more assists in the competition since the Ivorian’s first appearance in 2017 (Mohamed Salah, also 4).