Wales vs Armenia

Wales’ bid to maintain a promising start to their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign continues at the Cardiff City Stadium against sub-par Armenia.

Wales’ participation in the 2022 World Cup ended in the group stage, but they’re still eager to qualify for a third straight major international tournament following a last-16 exit at Euro 2020. Rob Page’s men have set the plan in motion, holding Croatia to a late 1-1 draw in a curtain-raising Euro 2024 qualifier before narrowly overcoming Latvia 1-0 at home last time out. Keen to extend an eye-catching seven-game unbeaten run in Euro qualifiers (W4, D3), the ‘Dragons’ face a straightforward task, at least on paper. But it’s worth noting they’ve drawn both previous meetings with Armenia. On top of that, the abovementioned win over Latvia arrested Wales’ underwhelming run of nine winless internationals (D3, L6), eight of which saw them score under 1.5 goals.

As for Armenia, a 2-1 home loss to Turkey in their opening Euro 2024 qualifier, followed by an action-packed 2-2 friendly draw against Cyprus, condemned the visitors to an abysmal nine-game winless run (D2, L7). Armenia’s chances of qualifying for a first-ever major international tournament as an independent nation look bleak, especially considering their growing defensive woes that have seen Oleksandr Petrakov’s team concede 2+ goals in their last nine outings. With Turkey extending the Armenians’ losing streak in Euro qualifiers to four matches, including a woeful 9-1 defeat to Italy in their most recent away game in the competition. Given that they’ve failed to keep a clean sheet in a Euro qualifying fixture on the road since 2011, Petrakov’s men look doomed before the kick-off.