Eric Chelle has been weighing up whether to tweak his system ahead of Nigeria's Africa Cup of Nations showdown clash with Tunisia.
Chelle's preference is a 4-4-2 diamond formation, though the Super Eagles switched to a 4-3-3 during the second half against Tanzania in their AFCON opener earlier in the week.
“In my mind I have two options the first is maybe to let Tunisia have the ball or when we get the ball back we go direct or we continue with our philosophy,” Chelle said at the press conference on Friday.
“As we know Tunisia is a good team and maybe we will change something.
“We had our training sessions after the first game and in the sessions we tried to add more intensity. We have a game against a great team so let’s go for this game.
“I have to prepare my players well as it’s not going to be easy. Tunisia is a great team like I said, they have a lot of good players with experience, lots of young players so they play well as a team.”
Nigeria came through the game Tanzania game unscathed which means Chelle has the luxury of a fully fit squad to choose from for their second Group C fixture.
Fisayo Dele-Bashiru replaced Akor Adams in the second half on Tuesday night and that could be the sole change to the Nigeria starting lineup if Chelle decides to deploy a 4-3-3 formation.
The Lazio midfielder can join Alex Iwobi and new Super Eagles captain Wilfred Ndidi in the engine room which would allow Ademola Lookman and Samuel Chukwueze to push further up in support of lone striker Victor Osimhen.
Predicted Nigeria XI: Nwabali; Osayi-Samuel, Ajayi, Bassey, Sanusi; Ndidi, Iwobi, Dele-Bashiru; Chukwueze, Osimhen, Lookman.
Time and date: 8pm GMT on Saturday, December 27, 2025
How to watch: 4Seven
Venue: Fes Stadium
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