Armenia vs Latvia prediction and predicted line-ups, Nicolato's Latvia face injury-hit Armenia. Nations League, Friday 25 September

Paolo Nicolato takes his Latvia side to Yerevan on Friday 25 September to open Group C2 of League C against Armenia. Latvia's only wins in 2026 came against Gibraltar, but their hosts have not won since 9 September 2025 and have so many injuries that coach Yeghishe Melikyan now calls it a 50-50 game.

Armenia vs Latvia: kick-off time and venue

Armenia vs Latvia kicks off at 17:00 UK time (18:00 CEST, 20:00 in Yerevan) on Friday 25 September at the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium. It is Group C2 of League C in the Nations League, with Montenegro and Cyprus; the winners are promoted to League B and the runners-up go into the play-offs. Slovenia's Martin Matoša is the referee.

Team news

Eight injured players were already missing from Armenia's squad on 17 September, among them Bichakhchyan and first-choice right-back Kamo Hovhannisyan. Since then Edgar Grigoryan has dropped out, replaced by Khariton Ayvazyan, and Nuremberg centre-back Styopa Mkrtchyan will miss all four games, with Argishti Petrosyan called up instead. In an interview published on Wednesday 23 September, Melikyan said he could not remember anything like it even in club football, and that he was disappointed by those who have walked away from the national team, Inter's Henrikh Mkhitaryan among them.

Nicolato has lost Jānis Ikaunieks, who was hurt in training and has left the camp; Kristers Čudars comes in, the first Ogre United player ever called up by Latvia. Irish-born QPR defender Denniss Cirkins will play only the first two games under an agreement with his club. Among the possible debutants is Norrköping's Alberts Aleksanjans, born in 2006 in Latvia to an Armenian father.

Armenia vs Latvia predicted line-ups

Neither side has an XI that holds up: Melikyan says he does not yet know who will play, and the full Latvia predictions going round include Ikaunieks. For Armenia the likeliest shape is a 4-2-3-1 with captain Eduard Spertsyan behind the striker, Iwu in midfield, Georgi Harutyunyan at centre-back and Tiknizyan at left-back. Up front Miranyan is ahead of 20-year-old Gharibyan, called up for the first time.

Nicolato said on 17 September that Latvia usually defend in a 3-4-3. The fixed points are Černomordijs, captain in March, Savaļnieks, Cigaņiks and Jurkovskis, with Gutkovskis or Uldriķis leading the line. The official line-ups are released about an hour before kick-off.

Head-to-head and form

Counting friendlies, there have been six previous meetings: three Armenia wins, one draw and two Latvia wins. Armenia have won both games in Yerevan, 2-1 in June 2023 and 4-1 in the Nations League on 7 September 2024, and they won 2-1 in Riga that November too. Spertsyan, who has 12 goals in 42 games, scored twice against Latvia in that group.

Since beating the Republic of Ireland 2-1, Armenia have lost four competitive games, including 9-1 in Porto, and failed to win any of their three friendlies in 2026. Latvia stayed in League C in March with two 1-0 wins over Gibraltar. Under Nicolato they have played 24, won 5, drawn 8 and lost 11.

Our Armenia vs Latvia prediction

Our call is no more than three goals, confidence 6 out of 10. Armenia have scored four goals in the seven games since their last win, and six of Latvia's last eight matches finished with three goals or fewer. Every fixture of the round is in our Nations League matchday one preview.

Every game with our calls is on the Nations League page. The record of settled calls is in the results history, and our calls on individual players are in player predictions.