Matchday 1 of the UEFA Euro 2024 qualification tournament between Armenia and Turkey in Group D will take place on March 25 at the Republican Stadium in Yerevan. Kick-off is at 20:00 (Moscow time). Armenia vs. Turkey: prediction and betting odds, match statistics.
Referee: Jose Sanchez (Spain)
Matches – 8 (International matches, 2022/23);
Yellow cards shown (including second yellows) – 21;
Average yellow cards per match – 2.6;
Red cards shown – 2;
Average fouls per match – 23;
Penalties – 13%.
Predicted lineups for Armenia vs. Turkey
Armenia (4-4-2): Arsen Beglaryan – Nair Tiknizyan, Varazdat Haroyan, Taron Voskanyan, Gevorg Harutyunyan – Kamo Hovhannisyan, Eduard Spertsyan, Karen Muradyan, Khoren Bayramyan – Tigran Barseghyan, Sargis Adamyan.
Turkey (4-4-2): Ugurcan Cakir – Eren Elmali, Caglar Soyuncu, Merih Demiral, Mehmet Zeki Celik – Kerem Akturkoglu, Hakan Calhanoglu, Orkun Kokcu, Cengiz Under – Cenk Tosun, Enes Unal.
Armenia
The team has participated in seven European Championship qualifying campaigns but has never reached the final tournament. Armenia's best achievement was finishing third in the qualifying group for Euro 2012. In the last qualification, the team finished fifth in their group, failing to win in 7 out of 10 matches (1 draw, 6 losses), with a goal difference of 14:25.
Armenia has not won in the Euro qualification for four matches (1 draw, 3 losses), losing the last three games with a total score of 1:13. At home, the team has failed to win in 7 of the last 9 Euro qualification matches (2 draws, 5 losses). Additionally, Armenia has lost their last five official matches.
Turkey
Turkey has performed much better in Euro qualifying tournaments, reaching the final stage in 5 of the last 7 attempts. Interestingly, the team has never finished first in a Euro qualifying group. In the previous qualification, Turkey finished second behind France, remaining unbeaten in 9 out of 10 matches (7 wins, 2 draws). Notably, Turkey scored 18 goals and conceded only 3 in that campaign.
The team has not lost in 17 of the last 18 Euro qualification matches (12 wins, 5 draws). Away from home, Turkey has not lost in 8 of the last 9 matches in this tournament (5 wins, 3 draws), scoring in all 9. Furthermore, Turkey has not lost in 5 of the last 6 official matches, securing 4 victories.
Armenia vs. Turkey: Match Prediction
Before this qualification cycle, Armenia changed their head coach, appointing Ukrainian specialist Oleksandr Petrakov in place of Spaniard Joaquin Caparros. The team also strengthened their defense by granting sports citizenship to Lokomotiv defender Nair Tiknizyan. However, these changes are unlikely to help the hosts achieve a positive result against a strong team like Turkey.
Turkey performs excellently in Euro qualifications, and in the last campaign, they almost caused an upset, leading France after eight rounds. The level of the teams is entirely different, and the visitors should start with a win. Turkey will be highly motivated to begin the qualification tournament successfully by defeating a principled opponent.
My prediction – “Turkey to win and Total over 1.5 goals”
