Heading 1: Wales Aim to Climb to the Top of Euro 2024 Qualifying Group
Heading 2: Wales vs Armenia Preview
Heading 3: Team News
Heading 4: Match Facts
Wales will be aiming to climb to the top of their Euro 2024 qualifying group when they host Armenia on Friday. With leaders Croatia in Nations League action this week, Wales have two chances to usurp them with a trip to Turkey on Monday to come after Armenia. Wales manager Rob Page said, “We want six points. That’s our mentality going into it. You win your home games and if you get a point away you’re on to a good thing. The mentality in the changing room at the minute is that we believe we can go on to get the two wins.”
The game will also mark the start of Wales captain Aaron Ramsey’s Three Peaks Challenge for charity, which will see him climb Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon). It is an almighty 24-hour effort, with a walking distance of 23 miles and total ascent of 10,052 feet, as well as a driving distance of 462 miles.
Wales have the experienced pair of defender Ben Davies and goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey available after they missed the opening two fixtures of this campaign in March. Nottingham Forest forward Brennan Johnson is also fit again having withdrawn from the squad for the 1-1 draw in Croatia and win over Latvia. His Forest team-mate, full-back Neco Williams, is another who is fit to start after recovering from a broken jaw. Vice-captain Davies can expect to slot straight back into the starting team, while Hennessey will battle it out with Danny Ward for the keeper’s jersey and Johnson faces competition from the likes of Daniel James, Harry Wilson, Kieffer Moore and David Brooks in attacking positions.
Wales, 71 places above Armenia in the world rankings, will be overwhelming favourites on Friday but were reminded in March of how tricky lower-ranked opponents can be when they were made to work for their 1-0 home victory over Latvia. Ramsey said, “These games are never easy. You are up against teams who are very streetwise – low blocks, counter-attacking well. We need to be patient and not try to force many things. With the right final ball or cross we can put one or two away. That will set it up quite nicely.”
Wales and Armenia have faced each other twice previously, both in qualifying for the 2002 World Cup. Both games were drawn, 2-2 in Yerevan and 0-0 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Armenia have only lost one of their previous four away matches against British sides (one win, two draws), although that was in their most recent game in June 2022 against Scotland in the UEFA Nations League. Wales ended a run of nine matches without a win in all competitions (three draws, six defeats) with their 1-0 victory over Latvia in March. They last won consecutive games in October and November 2021 against Estonia and Belarus.
Since winning five games in a row between November 2020 and March 2021, Armenia have won just two of their past 21 games in all competitions (six draws, 15 defeats), winning none of their past nine (two draws, seven defeats) since beating the Republic of Ireland last June. Wales are unbeaten in their past 12 home European Championship qualifying matches (nine wins, three draws) since losing 2-0 to England in March 2011. Armenia have lost nine of their past 10 competitive international matches, conceding 29 goals across these defeats and losing the past six in a row by an aggregate score of 19-4.
Kieffer Moore scored the winning goal in Wales’ 1-0 win over Latvia in their last European Championship qualifier. Since his debut, Moore is Wales’ leading scorer with 10 goals, with six of those coming via headers – no other Welsh player has more than one headed goal in that time. Daniel James assisted Moore’s winning goal against Latvia – indeed, five of James’ six assists for the Red Dragons have been provided for Moore.
Wales will be hoping to make the most of their home advantage and climb to the top of Group D with two wins this week. With experienced players returning to the squad and a captain looking to scale his own summit, Wales will be looking to prove that they are a match for anyone.