Belarus and Azerbaijan will square off in League C Group 3 of the UEFA Nations League on Monday looking to bounce back from defeats earlier this week.
Slovakia and Kazakhstan prevailed against the respective nations, heaping the pressure on the two teams heading into the game which is being played in Novi Sad in Serbia.
Match preview
© Reuters
On the back of three wins in succession, Belarus would have no doubt liked to have continued their run with fixtures in front of their own supporters.
However, Russia's military invasion of neighbouring Ukraine has ensured that they have had to move to a neutral venue, those games in question being played behind closed doors.
The first of those took place on Friday with Slovakia running out 1-0 victors in Serbia, the decisive goal being scored by Tomas Suslov just after the hour mark.
With Belarus' two other so-called home fixtures taking place over the next week, Georgy Kondratyev has a major job on his hands to lift his side if they want to launch a surprise bid for promotion.
These two teams met in an international friendly almost a year ago to the day, Azerbaijan running out 2-1 winners on that occasion.
Since then, Azerbaijan have failed to win a single game in 11 attempts, their two draws during that period coming against Republic of Ireland and Qatar.
In their three games since the turn of the year, Gianni De Biasi's team have failed to score a single goal in games versus Malta, Latvia and Kazakhstan.
Although they reached half time on level terms with the latter on Friday, a double from Abat Aymbetov soon after the break secured a comfortable win for the home team.
With successive home games to come after this fixture, De Biasi may be content with a share of the spoils, but three points would catapult them into the mix for a surprise promotion.
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- D
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Team News
Belarus captain Evgeniy Yablonskiy was withdrawn during the second half against Slovakia, putting his participation in doubt given the three-day turnaround.
Ivan Bakhar could also drop out of the starting lineup, with Artem Bykov and Andrey Solovey potentially being drafted into the team in midfield and attack.
De Biasi is likely to ring the changes to his Azerbaijan XI with many of his attack-minded players at risk of dropping down to the substitutes' bench.
Ramil Sheydayev is in line to replace either Renat Dadashov or Mahir Emreli, while Dimitrij Nazarov appears to be a likely inclusion in a creative role.
The experienced Qara Qarayev could also be restored to the centre of midfield.
Belarus possible starting lineup:
Pavlyuchenko; Yudenkov, Khadarkevich, Politevich; Begunov, Bocherov, Bykov, Shevchenko; Ebong, Solovey, Klimovich
Azerbaijan possible starting lineup:
Mahammadaliyev; Mustafazada, Haghverdi, Huseynov; Medvedev, Nazarov, Qarayev, Mahmudov, Salahly; Emreli, Sheydayev
We say: Belarus 1-1 Azerbaijan
With Belarus' home advantage being taken away, Azerbaijan will fancy their chances of prevailing on neutral territory. However, goals are likely to be few and far between, leading us to predict a low-scoring draw in Serbia.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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