Armenia will welcome Croatia to the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium in the group stage of the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers on Monday.
The hosts extended their unbeaten run to three games in the competition as they held Turkey to a 1-1 draw in their away match on Friday. Artak Dashyan broke the deadlock in the 49th minute of the game and they conceded a late equalizer as Bertuğ Özgür Yıldırım scored on his international debut in the 88th minute.
The visitors are unbeaten in their three games in the qualifiers and recorded a comfortable 5-0 home win over Latvia on Thursday. Bruno Petković bagged a first-half brace and Ivan Perišić provided a couple of assists.
Both teams have seven points at the moment and the visitors are in second place in the Group D standings, thanks to their superior goal difference. The visitors extended their unbeaten run at home in European qualifiers to 37 games with a win on Thursday.
- The two teams have met just once thus far, with the friendly match in 2021 ending in a 1-1 draw.
- Interestingly, both teams have scored eight goals in the qualifiers thus far, the same as first-placed Turkey, though the visitors have conceded just one goal in three games while the hosts have shipped in six goals in four games.
- Armenia have just one win in their last five home games in all competitions, suffering three defeats in that period.
- They have suffered six defeats in their last 10 home games in the European qualifiers, recording just three wins in that period.
- The visitors are unbeaten in their last nine games in European qualifiers. Interestingly, all nine of their defeats in the qualifiers have come away from home.
Havakakan have done well in their recent games and are on a four-game unbeaten run for the first time since June 2021. They have scored at least two goals in three of their last four games but have conceded at least two goals in two games in that period as well.
Vatreni bounced back with a 5-0 win on Thursday following a defeat on penalties in the Nations League final in June and will look to keep that momentum going. They are unbeaten in their last nine games in the European qualifiers.
There's not much history between the two teams and they played a low-scoring draw in their only meeting in 2021, which was a friendly.
Considering the visitors' superior record in European qualifiers and advantage in terms of squad quality, we back them to record a comfortable win.
Prediction: Armenia 1-2 Croatia
