Zalgiris vs Pyunik Yerevan prediction: EUROPE: Europa Conference League – Group Stage betting tips on match 2022-10-12 19:00.
With five games in hand on their nearest challenger and still holding a handsome nine-point lead at the top of their domestic A Lyga, Žalgiris could start to focus more of their efforts on the UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL). Things haven’t been as rosy for the Lithuanians in Europe, highlighted by a winless group campaign so far (D1, L2), which means that a victory here against Pyunik Yerevan is likely crucial if they are to remain in the hunt to extend their European campaign into the knockout rounds.
While their domestic league is almost wrapped up, Žalgiris now find another distraction to their European calendar, a Lithuanian Football Cup final against Hegelmann Litauen on Sunday. That may prompt boss Vladimir Cheburin to shuffle his pack a little, but having only lost one of their last six European home games (W2, D3), that would perhaps be a little foolish as Žalgiris could resurrect their European campaign with victory.
With a record 15 Armenian Premier League titles to their name, Pyunik Yerevan are perhaps stunned to find themselves seven points off the pace in the league this season. At least their UECL group stage campaign has served as somewhat of a remedy (W2, L1) and the current Group H joint-leaders know that another victory over Žalgiris, after a 1-0 win in the reverse fixture last week, could see them go outright top if coupled with a favourable result in the Basel game.
However, with no wins inside 90 minutes across their last five away outings (D1, L4), it’s hard to see Pyunik holding up their end of the bargain. Addressing that faltering away run will undoubtedly be high on coach Yegishe Melikyan’s list of priorities, but Pyunik have already achieved something that will go down in the history books by making their European group stage debut this season.
Players to watch: Mathias Oyewusi was the scorer of the goal to send Žalgiris to their domestic cup final and his two European goals this term were game openers. Artak Dashyan has been Pyunik’s only away scorer in the UECL this term and his three goals this season have been team openers.
Hot stat: Ahead of the round, only one side has registered fewer shots on target than Žalgiris’ four.