Armenia welcome Cyprus to the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium on Thursday evening for their penultimate League C fixture in the 2026-27 UEFA Nations League campaign.

In their previous competition outing, the Collectives played out a goalless draw with Montenegro at the Podgorica City Stadium, while the Blue and Whites claimed a narrow 2-1 victory over Latvia in Nicosia.

Match preview

After just missing out on promotion to League B in the 2024-25 campaign, finishing second in their group but falling to a thumping 9-1 aggregate defeat against Georgia in the promotion playoff, Armenia will have mixed feelings about how they have started their latest Nations League endeavours.

Despite starting their campaign on the front foot with a 2-0 victory over Latvia in Yerevan, the Collectives have since suffered defeats to Montenegro and Cyprus, although a goalless draw against the former in early October has just about kept Thursday’s hosts in contention for promotion from League C.

With two group matches remaining, Eghishe Melikyan’s men sit third in their respective group, though currently loitering three points below Cyprus in the table, Armenia almost certainly need to claim victory this week if they want any chance of progressing through to a playoff tie.

To do so, the Collectives will certainly have to be better than their recent form suggests too, as despite never before losing a home match against Cyprus, Armenia have claimed victory over the Blue and Whites in just one of their prior eight meetings.

Following a bitterly disappointing World Cup qualifying campaign, winning just one of their six matches to finish fourth in European Group H and sit five points below Romania in the playoff places, Cyprus will be content with how they have bounced back in their latest Nations League efforts.

Although they failed to win either of their first two competition outings, losing to Montenegro in their opening fixture before playing out a stalemate with Latvia, the Blue and Whites have truly kick started their promotion bid by claiming back-to-back victories and as a result sit in a promising position with just a pair of group matches remaining.

Heading into Thursday’s contest, Apostolos Mantzios’s side sit second in their group with a comfortable cushion over third-placed Armenia, but with Montenegro only three points ahead at the summit, Cyprus still have the opportunity to secure automatic promotion rather than a playoff place, providing plenty of incentive to extend their winning streak through to the end of the campaign.

Having won three of their previous five encounters with Armenia, including a 2-0 victory when the nations met at the GSP Stadium earlier on in the campaign, the Blue and Whites will certainly be confident that they can close down on top spot this week too and craft another chance at winning their place in League B.

Armenia Nations League form:

Armenia form (all competitions):

Cyprus Nations League form:

Cyprus form (all competitions):

Team News

Armenia will be without Eduard Spertsyan for Thursday’s contest after the midfielder recently picked up an Achilles tendon injury, while backup goalkeeper Henri Avagyan has also been ruled out.

Sergey Muradyan, Julio Bueno and Sunderland’s Finn Geragusyan round off the hosts’ injury list, though the Collectives are also missing Erik Simonyan, Kamo Hovhannisyan and Vahan Bichakhchyan from the latest squad selection due to a lack of match fitness.

With Henrikh Mkhitaryan retiring from international football in 2022 and Spertsyan out injured, Melikyan’s biggest goal threat on Thursday could well be Tenerife forward Grant-Leon Ranos, who is likely to lead the line for Armenia.

Cyprus are missing both Giannis Satsias and Konstantinos Sotiriou as the pair continue their recovery from muscle issues, while Omonia forward Andronikos Kakoullis remains sidelined with an undisclosed problem.

The Blue and Whites’ only other injury woe is Pafos goalkeeper Charalampos Kyriakidis, who suffered an arm issue in June, though the visitors will also be without Kostas Pileas after the 27-year-old fullback received a red card in last month’s meeting with Armenia.

Having already netted two goals in the current Nations League campaign, Burnley forward Marcus Edwards is undoubtedly Mantzios’s dangerman and is almost certain to start in midfield just behind Ioannis Pittas on Thursday.

Armenia possible starting lineup:

Beglaryan; Piloyan, Simonyan, Harutyunyan, Tiknizyan; Iwu, K.Hovhannisyan; Serobyan, Manvelyan, N.Hovhannisyan, Ranos 

Cyprus possible starting lineup:

Fabiano; Konomis, Kyprianou, Panagiotou, Malekkidis; Artymatas, Kastanos; Edwards, Loizou, Georgiou; Pittas

We say: Armenia 1-2 Cyprus

With their form slipping in recent matches and a gap beginning to open up between themselves and the promotion places, it is imperative that Armenia claim all three points against Cyprus if they are to have even the slightest chance of competing in League B when the 2028-29 Nations League campaign gets underway.

However, with the Blue and Whites enjoying a promising run of form and also chasing down Montenegro in the race for automatic promotion, we believe Armenia’s hopes of progressing will run their course on Thursday as the visitors to take all three points in Yerevan.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.