In what is a must-win game for both sides, Ethiopia and Malawi go head-to-head at Estadio do Zimpeto in round five of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on Tuesday.
The hosts head into this one off the back of four defeats from their last five outings, while the visitors go in search of a first victory since the turn of the year.
Match preview
Ethiopia fell to an agonising defeat in a 3-2 thriller against the National Elephants of Guinea at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium on March 27.
Daniel Gebremariam's men trailed to Naby Keita's opener but managed to draw level through Canaan Markneh before goals from Ilaix Moriba and Morgan Guilavogui decided the game, rendering Kitika Jemma's late strike inconsequential.
As a result, the Walia Ibex remain bottom in Group D of the AFCON qualifiers, six points behind Guinea in second and a further three points adrift of leaders Egypt.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have been beaten just once in the previous 11 editions of this fixture dating back to 2003.
Off the back of a first home defeat in 10 matches last time out, Tuesday's hosts now set out to avoid consecutive losses in front of their fans for the first time since 2020.
Malawi battled hard to secure a 1-1 stalemate against the Mambas of Mozambique in Wednesday's international friendly encounter between the teams.
Having gone behind to Telinho's opener 10 minutes into the second period, Patrick Mabedi's men looked set to come away empty-handed before Lanjesi Nkhoma restored parity.
That was a seventh consecutive game across all competitions without a victory for the Flames since they were awarded a 3-0 victory against Zimbabwe last July.
In their final outing before next month's COSAFA Cup takes centre-stage, Tuesday's visitors will be keen to pick up a morale-boosting victory here.
Team News
Gabadinho Mhango grabbed a double for Malawi in the last edition of this fixture, but the 30-year-old is currently unavailable and will not play any part in this one.
Lanjesi Nkhoma had a debut to remember last time out as he opened his account for the away side, which could see him make his first competitive start.
Shimelis Bekele is the only member of Ethiopia's squad currently playing his club football abroad, highlighting how much Daniel Gebremariam trusts his home-based players.
Seid Habtamu has got the nod to feature between the sticks in each of the last three games, and he is expected to retain his place in the XI.
Ethiopia possible starting lineup:
Habtamu; Tamene, Bayeh, Yusef, Solomon; Bekele, Yohannes, Markneh; Shubisa, Tarekegn, Mamush
Malawi possible starting lineup:
Munthali; Sanudi, Chembezi, Chaziya, Lungu; Banda, Idana, Chirwa; Mbulu, Chester, Nkhoma
We say: Ethiopia 1-0 Malawi
Both teams have struggled defensively of late, but Ethiopia's better offensive form makes them favourites for this one. We are tipping the hosts to get the job done at the sound of the final whistle.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
