Armenia and Republic of Ireland open their 2022-2023 UEFA Nations League campaign when they go head to head at the Republican Stadium in Group B1 on Saturday evening with kickoff at 16:00.
The two have been drawn alongside Scotland and Ukraine in the same group, thus both Armenia and Ireland will under pressure to make a quick start to the campaign in a bid to earn promotion to the top league.
Armenia are however considered minnows of the group as they are competing at this level for the first time following their promotion during the first two nations League campaigns. A return 11 points from six matches in Group C2 last season, was enough for Joaquin Caparros’ side to earn the promotion.
They will now be looking to continue their climb to League A, but a rice in level automatically means relatively more challenging opponents and Armenia will need to be at their absolute best to even remain at this level for next season.
They open their campaign with a home advantage, and they have been in good home form recently having gone unbeaten in seven of their last nine home matches, picking up five wins and two draws. They will now hope to continue that here as they look to start on the front foot.
However, Armenia have been in a poor form lately generally having won just one of their 12 games across all competitions. They have also managed to score just two goals form their five matches, while conceding 18 in the process. They are also coming up against Ireland who they fallen two in their last two meetings.
Ireland who finished third in last season’s Group B4 head into match in good form having gone unbeaten in their last eight matches in all competitions, claiming four victories and four ties. They have also claimed five clean sheets from their last six games with only goals slipped in coming in the 2-2 draw against Belgium in March.
Therefore we will back the Republic of Ireland to click off with all three points, although we expect a very close encounter.
Armenia vs Ireland head to head
Both sides have meet in two fixtures since 2010 with Ireland claiming victories in both occasions.
- Ireland 2-1 Armenia 11/10/11
- Armenia 0-1 Ireland 03/09/10
Home
- Kyrgyzstan 0-0 Armenia
- Norway 9-0 Armenia
- Armenia 1-0 Montenegro
- Armenia 1-4 Germany
- Armenia 0-5 North Macedonia
Away
- Ireland 1-0 Lithuania
- Ireland 2-2 Belgium
- Luxemburg 0-3 Ireland
- Ireland 0-0 Portugal
- Ireland 4-0 Qatar
Armenia team news
Armenia have called a fully-fit 29-man squad for the Nations League games with Varazdat Haroyan of Cadiz and Sargis Adamyan of Brugge included.
Ireland team news
Ireland will be without Matt Doherty due to injury.
Prediction and odds
- Republic of Ireland win
- Both sides to sore
- Goal over 2.5
