Armenia vs North Macedonia Prediction: Lynxes to remain unbeaten

The top two teams in Uefa Nations League Group C4 meet at the Vagzen Sargsyan Republican Stadium in Yerevan on Sunday (17:00), as Armenia play host to North Macedonia.

Read below for my Armenia vs North Macedonia prediction, complete with all the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Armenia head coach Oleksandr Petrakov could be tempted to hand a start to Gor Manvelyan after the Noah forward's last-gasp heroics on Thursday. The 22-year-old was only thrown on in the 86th minute but struck seven minutes later to salvage a 2-2 draw in the Faroe Islands.

Lucas Zeralayan scored his side's first goal of the game and the Al-Fateh playmaker will hope to play the duration again on Sunday.

Artur Miranyan is another potential inclusion in Petrakov's starting XI after playing the final third of the contest in Torshavn.

Football Odds

North Macedonia could name an unchanged team after beating Latvia 3-0 in Riga on Thursday, although two of the goals were scored after the second-half substitutions of Bojan Dimoski, Tihomir Kostadinov, Milan Ristovski and Lirim Qamili. It was Qamili who struck the Lynxes' second of the match within five minutes of his introduction, and so he will be hopeful of earning a start in Yerevan.

Jani Atanasov and Eljif Elmas were North Macedonia's other scorers and the duo will begin Sunday's game alongside national team stalwart Enis Bardhi, with Bojan Miovski expected to continue in attack.

Armenia vs North Macedonia Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main Armenia vs North Macedonia page on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this match.

Armenia haven't beaten North Macedonia since November 2020 but are regarded as slight favourites on Sunday with odds of 13/10, giving the hosts an implied win probability of 43.5%. The visitors, meanwhile, are 2/1 (33.3%) to record a fourth-straight victory over the Havakakan, with the draw priced at 9/4.

Both teams to score is available at 5/6 and over 2.5 total goals at 11/10.

Miranyan (9/4) leads the anytime goalscorer market ahead of Miovski (12/5) and Zelarayan (5/2).

Double Chance & Both Teams to Score - Draw or North Macedonia & Yes @ 7/4

North Macedonia remain unbeaten in the Nations League after three games against the Faroe Islands, Armenia and Latvia, the first of which they drew 1-1. The first of their two wins came at home to Armenia last month as they triumphed 2-0 courtesy of second-half goals from Bardhi and Miovski, and the second arrived on Thursday as Latvia were swatted aside 3-0 in Riga.

It's been a welcome return to form for North Macedonia, who were winless in their previous seven games before beating Armenia in Skopje. That victory was particularly special as it was achieved with 10 men for more than half of the match following Gjoko Zajkov's first-half red card.

Impressively, North Macedonia have now scored in their previous four games, last failing to net in a 3-0 defeat to Croatia on June 3, while they managed to breach England's and Italy's (twice) defence in Euro 2024 qualifiers at the end of last year.

Similarly, Armenia have had few problems scoring, only failing to get past North Macedonia in their last six outings. They will have been disappointed not to get on the scoresheet in Skopje considering they held a man advantage for over 45 minutes, but should feel confident they can make up for that at home on Sunday.

Armenia's last home contest ended 4-1 in their favour while North Macedonia's latest away trip earlier this week saw them hit three past Latvia, so I think we could be in for a few goals here, at least one for each side.

North Macedonia thrashed Armenia 5-0 on their last visit to Yerevan but while I don't see a victory that routine this time around, I am siding with the visitors if there is to be a winner this weekend.

Ultimately, I think it's worth hedging your bets and backing both teams to score and the double chance result on North Macedonia at 7/4.

Anytime Goalscorer - Lucas Zelarayan (ARM) @ 5/2

The first time was so nice, I had to do it twice...

Zeralayan to score anytime was a 5/2 winner in my Faroe Islands vs Armenia preview as he struck his side's first equaliser in Torshavn on Thursday, and he now goes in search of a third international goal in four games.

The 32-year-old peppered Faroe Islands with shots, registering six efforts and hitting the target with two of them - the second was a free-kick saved by Faroese goalkeeper Bardur a Reynatrod in the first minute of second-half stoppage time.

Zelarayan has scored four national team goals since June last year and I think he's worth taking on again at the same price on Sunday considering Armenia are at home and the fact that I believe they will score at least once.

Offers

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