Croatia - Armenia predictions and free betting tips [21/11/2023]

On Tuesday, 21st November, as a part of the 10th round in the Euro 2024 qualifiers, Croatia will face the national team of Armenia. For the hosts, avoiding a tie on points with Wales should suffice to secure their place in the continental championship in Germany. The visitors, on the other hand, have already been booted out of the race for the strongest duo.

Predicted Lineups

Croatia: Livakovic; Stanisic, Sutalo, Erlic, Gvardiol; Modric, Brozovic, Majer; Pasalic, Kramaric, Ivanusec.
Armenia: Cancarevic; Dashyan, Calisir, Voskanyan, Arutyunyan, Tiknizyan; Sevikyan, Iwu, Spertsyan, Zelarayan; Ranos.

Stadium

The duel will take place in Zagreb at the Maksimir Stadium.

Croatia

Despite being the bronze medalists in the last World Cup, the Croatian national squad is having a rough time in recent qualifiers, and ahead of the last round they have not secured their participation in the Euro next June. Croatia currently holds the second position in Group D, with 13 points in their pocket – 2 more than Wales trailing behind. Following a September victory against Latvia (5:0) and Armenia (0:1), Zlatko Dalić's team faced failures in October, losing against both Turkey (0:1) and Wales (2:1).

The host side did not experience any difficulties against Latvia, securing a comfortable victory with a 0:2 score. Goals from Lovro Majer and Andrej Kramarić within the starting 20 minutes, allowed Croatia to bypass the Welsh after their draw against Armenia. Now, the hosts will head to the Euros should they take the maximum amount of points or even if they draw or lose, given that Turkey does not allow "the dragons" to win. Surely, there exists the alternative to secure their ticket to the championship through the Nations League playoffs in the spring, but such a scenario would be undesirable for Dalić. 

Armenia

Despite impressive results throughout their current campaign, Armenia will be unable to take part in Euro 2024. The Tricolours were quite close to sensational inclusion among the strongest duo, but as of September, due to their heavy calendar, they have slowed down: drawing against Turkey (1:1) and losing to Croatia (0:1), and last month, having lost to Latvia (2:0), they finally forfeited any chance of success.

Understandably disheartened by this disappointment, Armenia failed their supporters in a friendly against North Macedonia (3:1), whereas last Saturday they managed a 1:1 draw against Wales on home turf. Lucas Zelarayán scored in the early minutes, but the Welsh managed to equalise thanks to an own goal from Naira Tiknizyan. Two draws and three losses in their last five matches might threaten Petrakov's position as manager, considering that the team urgently needs some changes. 

Head-to-Head

These teams met in September, where the Croatians emerged victorious away from home with a minimal margin of 0:1.

Croatia vs Armenia Match Forecast

Croatia needs to win on Tuesday to secure their second spot in this group and not rely on the Wales team’s results. Armenia has performed quite remarkably for this campaign, but they fizzled out at crunch time and now lack any tournament motivation. Given the remarkable difference in the team rosters and experience, we confidently predict a victory for the "checkerboards" with an -1.5 handicap.

Over/Under Forecast

Highly motivated for the Euros, Croatia is hoping to delight the home crowd with a thrilling spectacle in their last match of 2023. My bet is on an individual ITO of “checkerboards” exceeding 2.5.

Corner Forecast

Croatia massively outclasses their opponent and will dominate the game. Thus they will win on all key performance indicators, including corners (handicap -3.5).

Yellow Cards Forecast

Armenia will most likely resort to frequent fouling against the skilful and technical Croatian midfielders, so I predict Armenia's victory in yellow cards.

Score Forecast

I will bet on a precise score of 3:0 in favor of the Croatian team.