African champions Senegal will endeavour to become the latest beneficiaries of a World Cup 2022 shock when they take on England in Sunday's last-16 clash at the Al Bayt Stadium.

Aliou Cisse's men looked to be heading out against Ecuador before Kalidou Koulibaly's well-taken volley sealed a 2-1 win, allowing Senegal to leapfrog the South Americans into second place in Group A behind the Netherlands.

The Sadio Mane-less Lions of Teranga will not be many people's picks to book a spot in the last eight, but the Africa Cup of Nations holders still have some reasons for optimism as they bid to match their best-ever World Cup result, having also reached the quarter-finals in 2002.

Here, Sports Mole picks out three factors which could work in Senegal's favour during Monday's clash with the 2018 semi-finalists.

Goal threat

No manager would have wanted to lose Sadio Mane right before the start of a major tournament, but Senegal have not managed too badly without their all-time leading goalscorer so far.

Failing to find the back of the net against the Netherlands was not the end of the world for Aliou Cisse's men, and even then they only lost at the death following two moments that Edouard Mendy will not want to look back on, but they have since scored five in two games versus Qatar and Ecuador.

Furthermore, all five of those goals have come from five different goalscorers - including Koulibaly, who took his winning volley against Ecuador like a seasoned striker - so there is still plenty of goal threat in this Senegal side.

England may have kept two clean sheets in their last two World Cup games, but shipping two to Iran demonstrates that the Three Lions are far from impenetrable, and Senegal are not short of attacking options in the absence of Mane.

Last-16 success

Senegal are certainly the novices in this knockout battle, having only played at two previous World Cups in 2002 and 2018, and their run in Russia four years ago ended in the group stage.

However, the Lions of Teranga impressively got as far as the quarter-finals in their first-ever appearance 20 years ago, during which they came up against European opposition in Sweden during the round of 16.

Two strikes from Henri Camara - including a 104th-minute golden goal - secured a 2-1 win for Senegal in that encounter before they were eliminated by Turkey in the quarter-finals, so the African champions are not totally clueless when it comes to World Cup knockout fixtures.

That slender victory over Sweden 20 years ago also represents the only win for African nations in their last nine World Cup knockout games against European teams, who have won the other eight, and Senegal are also out to become the first African team to ever beat England in an international fixture.

European pattern

Most of the statistics will point towards an England win in this fixture, whether that be the Three Lions' golden streak in front of goal or Senegal's lack of clean sheets at the World Cup, but the more superstitious among us may want to take a look at this sequence.

Senegal have faced European opposition six times before at the World Cup finals, and they have made a habit of winning one then not winning one against the UEFA nations since firstly beating France in their maiden match in 2002.

That pattern has been followed to a tee since then, as Senegal then drew with Denmark before beating Sweden and losing to Turkey in 2002, and their next European battle against Poland in 2018 ended in a 2-1 victory.

The Lions of Teranga would then suffer a 2-0 loss to the Netherlands in their opening game of the current World Cup, but if their sequence against European teams is to be followed, then Senegal are due a victory in this match, and their ardent fans will welcome any good omen that may come their way before facing the 2018 semi-finalists.

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