Armenia – Turkey

The two opponents will produce an entertaining and productive match

Armenia and Turkey are drawn in the same group as Croatia, Latvia and Wales. A pair of favourites for the main tournament is clear to see here, as bookmakers' betting odds confirm. But the Turks, meanwhile, spring unpleasant surprises for their fans in almost every other qualifying campaign. Socio-political factors also play a role in the upcoming clash in Yerevan, signalling high tensions between the countries. To some extent, this may level out the difference in class between the teams. In terms of figures, analysts at the specialist website transfermarkt see the entire Turkish squad as ten times more expensive than the Armenian squad - 297.5m versus 31.45m euros. The positions of the countries in the FIFA ranking are also very different. The Turks are currently placed 44th, while Armenia are 95th. Before Saturday's meeting, bookmakers described the visitors as clear favourites with odds of 1.43 to win. After their disappointing finish in the Nations League last year, the Armenian football federation fired their head coach. Aleksandr Petrakov, the former coach of Ukraine, who was appointed to the new post only two months ago, is now called upon to lift the team out of Liga C and take it to the continental championships. Petrakov has taken charge of the Armenian team at a very advantageous time, when the European side simply cannot perform worse. Whether the Armenian team will be able to start anew right away is an open question. But home-field advantage and a determined determination to play their opponents will be helpful on Saturday. The Turks have picked up a respectable level of play in recent years. They finished second to the Netherlands in World Cup qualifying, before falling to Portugal in the play-offs. In last year's C-League of Nations, Stefan Kunz's side finished first in their group with Luxembourg, the Faroe Islands and Lithuania, allowing them to start the upcoming competition in League B. In their last thirteen official and friendly matches, the Turks have scored at least three goals eleven times. The match in Yerevan is unlikely to break that statistic.