In the first encounter of Group B1 of the UEFA Nations League, which will take place this coming Saturday, Armenia will face off against Ukraine. If the club playing at home can pull off a victory, they will have the chance to move up in the standings and move out of the cellar.
Match Preview: Armenia vs Ukraine
Armenia won back-to-back promotions to League B but might be demoted after the season. Three consecutive losses have placed Armenia at the bottom of Group B1, one point below Ireland.
Given that they play Ireland away on Tuesday, Saturday’s encounter against Ukraine in Yerevan takes on added weight; a victory would leave their fate in their own hands moving to Dublin next week, assuming Scotland doesn’t beat Stephen Kenny’s team.
As an independent country, avoiding relegation would benefit their FIFA World Ranking and seeding. After reaching a peak of 30th in February 2014, the Mountaineers have plummeted to 92nd.
Despite former Sevilla coach Joaquin Caparros having a considerable effect after being promoted in March 2020. Scotland topped Group B1 after beating Ukraine 3-0 on Wednesday at Hampden Park.
Oleksandr Petrakov’s side had only three shots compared to Scotland’s 24, with eight testing Anatoliy Trubin. John McGinn broke the deadlock after 70 minutes, and Lyndon Dykes scored two fast goals to give Scotland vengeance for Ukraine’s 3-1 triumph in a June World Cup qualifying playoff.
Petrakov’s team must overcome Armenia on Saturday and hope for a favour from Ireland if they want a promotion to League A before next week’s reverse encounter.
Team News: Armenia vs Ukraine
As a result of receiving one yellow card too many in their country’s 4-1 loss to Scotland in June, Varazdat Haroyan and Eduard Spertsyan will not be able to play for Armenia owing to suspensions. This will force Armenia to play without their services.
Both Arman and Kamo Hovhannisyan were shown red cards during that game; nevertheless, Caparros chose not to select either of them in his team for future matches because of their red cards.
Both Sergey Mkrtchyan and Serob Galstyan are working toward the goal of making their debuts on the international stage perhaps within the next week.
After a lacklustre performance in Ukraine’s loss to Scotland on Wednesday, head coach Petrakov may want to switch out Artem Dovbyk for Roman Yaremchuk in the attacking position.
Petrakov’s objective is to improve his team’s chances of scoring goals. Because his team has three matches in seven days, further rotation is likely to take place in the starting lineup in the days leading up to the return match against the Scots on Tuesday.
Vitaliy Mykolenko, Serhiy Sydorchuk, and Oleksandr Zubkov are the players who are most likely to be considered for this starting position.
Because of a calf injury, Oleksandr Zinchenko was not selected for his country’s team. This ailment also forced him to miss the match between Arsenal and Brentford the previous weekend.
- Armenia Probable Starting Lineup: Yurchenko, Dashyan, Hambardzumyan, Voskanyan, Mkoyan, Hakobyan, Grigoryan, Babayan, Bayramyan, Zelarayan, Barseghyan.
- Ukraine Probable Starting Lineup: Trubin, Karavayev, Bondar, Matviyenko, Mykolenko, Zubkov, Sydorchuk, Malinovskyi, Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk, Mudryk.
Our Prediction: Armenia 1-3 Ukraine
As a result of the suspensions handed down to two of Ukraine’s most experienced and accomplished players, we can reasonably anticipate that the guests will come away with a convincing win.
A win on Saturday kept their ambitions of promotion to the top flight of the Nation League alive ahead of next week’s reverse encounter against Scotland.
They are expected to enjoy playing with more freedom and offensive energy than when they were held at arm’s length by Scotland in the previous week.
