Armenia vs Montenegro Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Armenia’s World Cup qualification campaign has gone pretty much as expected so far. Their 2-1 loss to Poland last time out is certainly nothing to be ashamed of, although the 5-0 hammering at home to Romania the match before is slightly more humiliating. This followed on from a loss to Denmark to leave them pointless after the first three games of their campaign.

This is no surprise given their form over the past couple of years. They have won two, drawn three, and lost 15 of their last 20 matches in all competitions, and those victories came away from home against Guatemala and El Salvador. At home things are even worse with four defeats and three draws since their last victory over three years ago.

Armenia’s one shining light is Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Last season’s Bundesliga Players’ Player of the Year has been frozen out a bit at Manchester United but his talent speaks for itself. He is by far the best player Armenia have at their disposal, and if they do anything good on Friday he is bound to be involved.

Montenegro have performed above expectations so far though, although they still have to face group favourites Poland. They opened the campaign with a 1-1 draw at Romania before beating Kazakhstan 5-0 and Denmark 1-0. This leaves them top of the group at this early stage, but they know they can’t take their foot off the pedal if they want to make it to Russia in 2018.

These two victories have broken them out of a difficult run of seven games without a win, but they will feel very confident about bagging the three points on Friday.

The visitors undoubtedly have more talent at their disposal than Armenia. The likes of Mirko Vucinic and Stevan Jovetic offer a lot of threat going forward, and Jovetic’s 18 international goals make him their top scorer. He’s the best bet for an anytime goalscorer backing in my opinion.

Considering Armenia’s last home match ended in a 5-0 hammering to Romania, I think backing the visitors is the best option here. Odds of 23/20 for a Montenegro win look really good value as well, so that’s what I’m going for along with a 2-0 correct score prediction at 15/2 due to the fact that Armenia haven’t scored at home in four matches.