My gut feeling tells me that it's going to be a draw. It's a common result when you get two teams who have the utmost respect for each other squaring off in a vitally important match. The pressure of the occasion means that teams become quite deliberate trying not to make a mistake initially and basically indulging in a feeling-out process.

On Saturday night France played with a swagger for 20 minutes, but having strutted around and won the game in that period they became a little uninterested as their minds drifted towards the Ireland game. They didn't need to chase anything and but for some slack finishing they would have beaten the Faroe Islands by a bigger margin. As it was they won in a canter without expending too much energy.

There are two schools of thought about having a match in the build-up to a game of this importance.

The first suggests Saturday will have allowed the French to blow away any cobwebs, having been afforded a reasonably easy run-out.

The second says because Ireland have enjoyed some time together on the training ground to fine-tune their preparations without having to shift from their base, they'll be slightly fresher, especially if the game remains tight and keenly contested as it enters the final 10 minutes.

The return of Zinedine Zidane and Claude Makelele was muted but it's not as if they're going to be overawed by tonight's match.

They know they are in for a tough game. They'll have played against most of the Irish players and will know what type of game they're in for and what the atmosphere is going to be like.

The crowd will not faze France. Their players have played at the highest level all over the world in some of the most intimidating atmospheres, so playing at Lansdowne Road won't have them trembling.

Some visiting teams have been stunned by the sheer physical assault they have had to endure when they came to play in Dublin. France won't be. They'll expect it.

In the Paris match Ireland outplayed tonight's opponents for long passages, producing the better football. Now that Thierry Henry has stopped tripping over his bottom lip with the return of some of his mates, they'll be a different prospect.

This French team is not as good as the one that won the World Cup or the one that won the European Championship but on a given night they are capable of football excellence.

If there is a weakness it is in the centre of the defence, where Jean Boumsong and Lillian Thuram don't look convincing.

Boumsong is liable to at least one howler per game, as he showed when playing for Newcastle United against Manchester United.

Thuram is a fantastic player on the decline. He is sliding down the hill on the far side.

Fortunately, the French can call upon Makelele to help shore up defensive limitations. He is arguably the most disciplined player in world football. He does exactly as he's asked, fulfilling the job he has to do fantastically well.

Ireland need to ensure they play extremely narrow in midfield when they don't have the ball. The danger will come down Ireland's right side for it is on the left wing that Henry is at his most dangerous.

He likes to drift out there and that is something of which Ireland must be aware. They can't afford to push too far up the pitch leaving gaps behind, because that's exactly what Henry will relish. Someone will have to track Zidane when he drops into the hole between midfield and attack.

It promises to be a battle royal for the home side in midfield as they try to counter the physical threat posed by Patrick Vieira and Makelele.

The four Irish midfielders will have to get tight and narrow and this will allow them to bite into the tackles and make the French hurry. That'll be very important: to hassle and harry the French and not let them find a rhythm. Ireland need to set the tempo.

The French won't have it all their own way and will be earmarking certain Irish players for special attention but I expect Brian Kerr to be clever in the way he looks to shift the ball forward. The worst thing Ireland could be is predictable.

If France come to Lansdowne Road with the wrong attitude they are in big trouble, but that's not likely to happen. Ireland will need to show their traditional abrasiveness at home, produce a high-tempo performance for 90 minutes and enjoy one or two bounces of the ball.

It'll be close and there mightn't be anything in it at all come 10 o'clock tonight.