Latvia enter the match on the back of a poor competitive run, winning just four of their last 15 matches, drawing three, and losing eight. They have scored only 13 goals while conceding 37 during this stretch, with their only wins—and clean sheets—coming against lower-ranked opponents: Andorra, the Faroe Islands (twice), and Armenia.
Their home form has also been patchy, with just seven wins in their last 20 games. In the Nations League, they struggled badly, finishing bottom of their League C group with a record of W1-D1-L4, managing just four goals in six games. As a result, they now face Gibraltar in a play-off to determine whether they will slip further down the UEFA rankings.
Albania, while inconsistent, come into this match with a stronger recent record. Their recent record is W7-D5-L7. Their Nations League campaign ended in disappointment as they finished bottom of their League B group, but the margins were fine—they were level on points with Georgia and just one behind Ukraine. Their record of W2-D1-L3 came in matches that averaged only 1.67 goals, reflecting a tendency for low-scoring encounters. They kept two clean sheets and failed to score in half of their group games, suggesting a solid defence but occasional struggles in attack.
Given the data, this match looks likely to follow a familiar pattern of low scoring and tight margins.
Head to head:
Latvia and Albania have faced each other five times in men’s international football, with all five matches ending in draws. Two of those games ended 0-0, while the other three were lively scoring draws that produced a total of 12 goals, with each side netting six times. These evenly matched encounters include FIFA World Cup qualifiers, UEFA European Championship qualifiers, and friendly tournament games.
Predicted line-ups
Latvia (4-3-3): Steinbors; Jurkovskis, Cernomordijs, Dubra, Savalnieks; Tobers, Ciganiks, Saveljevs; Ikaunieks, Gutkovskis, Uldrikis
Albania (4-3-3): Strakosha; Hysaj, Djimsiti, Ismajli, Mitaj; Ramadani, Asllani, Bajrami; Asani, Manaj, Uzuni.
