Wales vs Azerbaijan Preview: Where to Watch, Buy Tickets, Live Stream, Kick Off Time & Team News
Wales will be looking to get their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign back on track when they welcome Azerbaijan to Cardiff on Friday evening.
Cymru come into this one having lost their previous two qualifiers against Croatia and Hungary, but they'll be confident of securing a result against their winless opponents.
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Azerbaijan lost all three of their opening matches - including a 5-1 thumping against Slovakia - so they are already well behind in Group E.
Where to Watch
When Is Kick Off? | Friday 6 September |
What Time Is Kick Off? | 19:45 (BST) |
Where Is it Played? | Cardiff City Stadium |
TV Channel/Live Stream? | Sky Sports Premier League (UK), S4C (Wales Only) |
Referee? | Farrugia Cann Trustin |
Where to Buy Tickets
Tickets for the game are, as ever, available on both teams' official federation websites, though membership is required in order to purchase.
Team News
As is always the case for Wales, the focus is mostly on Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey. The former will be present and comes into the international break off the back of a brace for Real Madrid, but Wales will have to do without Ramsey who pulled out of the squad as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury.
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There are no household names in the Azerbaijan squad, although Wales may sensible to watch out for Ramil Sheydaev, who has scored two goals in three qualifying matches.
Predicted Lineups
Wales | Hennessey; Gunter, Mepham, Lawrence, Davies; Ampadu, Allen, Smith; Wilson, James, Bale. |
Azerbaijan | Agayev; Medvedev, Hüseynov, Krivotsyuk, Rahimov; Babayev, Eyubov, Richard; Abdullayev, Ramazanov; Sheydaev |
Head to Head Record
These two have faced off six times before and Wales have been the dominant force. The fixture has ended with five victories in Wales' favour, as well as a solitary draw back in 2004.
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The previous two fixtures took place during the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, where Wales won 1-0 home and away.
Recent Form
After starting their qualifying campaign with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Slovakia, Wales followed it up with defeats against Croatia and Hungary. There is, of course, no shame in losing to World Cup finalists Croatia, but Ryan Giggs would have been disappointed to have slipped up against Hungary.
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Azerbaijan are in dreadful form, having failed to win a single game during 2019. Their last result was a 5-1 defeat to Slovakia, which was rather disastrous.
Here's a full breakdown of both side's previous five results.
Wales | Azerbaijan |
Hungary 1-0 Wales (11/6) | Azerbaijan 1-5 Slovakia (11/6) |
Croatia 2-1 Wales (8/6) | Azerbaijan 1- Hungary (8/6) |
Wales 1-0 Slovakia (24/3) | Azerbaijan 0-0 Lithuania (25/3) |
Wales 1-0 Trinidad & Tobago (20/3) | Croatia 2-1 Azerbaijan (21/3) |
Wales 1-2 Denmark (16/11) | Kosovo 4-0 Azerbaijan (20/11) |
Prediction
On paper, this one should be fairly comfortable for Wales. After two defeats on the bounce, Giggs will be looking for nothing less than a win to keep Wales' qualifying hopes alive.
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They should be mindful of Azerbaijan, however, and Giggs will be drilling home the fact that Wales need to start brightly to avoid a stale affair.
The presence of Bale as well as youngsters Daniel James and Harry Wilson, who have both been in impressive form, should be enough to secure a win for Wales.
