Euro 2020: Azzurri Aces Aim for Armenia

Armenia vs Italy

Euro 2020 is suddenly only a blink away and that means the focus will be firmly on the Azzurri as they aim to seal a return to a major championship.

After the shock of failing to reach the World Cup Finals in Russia last summer – and the post-mortem that followed – qualification in Group J resumes with Matchday 5 in the Yerevan Republican Stadium.

Roberto Mancini’s men have a perfect record so far with four wins out of four in Euro 2020 qualifying, three points clear of nearest rivals Finland and with a goal difference far superior to any of their group rivals.

Even still, after what happened 22 months ago, Italy will not rest easy until qualification for next summer’s showpiece is in the bag.

Two wins in four days, starting with Armenia and then at Finland, will virtually seal their place so Mancini will surely impress that on his players.

opacity 0

CLICK HERE
TO SEE UPDATED ODDS

Serie A

Talking Points

Mancini is certainly trying to show who is boss at the moment, admitting he has left Moise Kean and Nicolo Zaniolo out of his latest squad as punishment.

Kean and Zaniolo were Italy’s breakout stars of last season, but the pair courted controversy earlier in the summer as they showed up late for a team meeting ahead of an important European Under-21 Championship fixture with Belgium.

Whether Mancini can afford to act like this further down the line remains to be seen, but for now, he can as Italy have created their own Euro 2020 highlights, including in June in Greece with another comprehensive victory, observed by this SBOBET writer.

What’s more, Italy have won seven European qualifiers in a row for the first time ever.

They have scored in all of their past 20 European qualifying matches, a record for the Azzurri. They have also kept six consecutive clean sheets, their best run since 1990 when they finished in third place in the World Cup.

There’s no doubt the loss of defender Giorgio Chiellini is a blow, as is the absence of Valencia’s Cristiano Piccini, who will be out for around five months with a patellar fracture.

Juventus confirmed on Friday that their captain and veteran defender has suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and will undergo surgery, leaving his status for the rest of the season in serious doubt.

His injury was a shock, given that the stalwart defender had not missed significant time in his entire Juventus career since joining from Fiorentina in 2005.

Euro 2020: Italy will play against Armenia without Giorgio Chiellini — Giorgio Chiellini at the stands during the match between Juventus and Napoli

However, Italy and Juventus will have to make do without one of their leaders. Mancini has been forced to move quickly and called up Lazio defender Francesco Acerbi in his place for the next two matches with Brescia midfielder Sandro Tonali also replacing Roma midfielder Bryan Cristante.

Italy have also called up Luca Pellegrini and Stephan El Shaarawy for the qualifiers. Pellegrini has been rewarded for his breakout few months on loan at Cagliari, which earned him a permanent transfer to Juventus.

The place for El Shaarawy may surprise some after the winger’s decision to leave Europe for Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua earlier in the summer.

Also watch out for Andrea Belotti of Torino, who has started the season well with goals in both legs of their Europa League qualifying defeat to Wolves.

Mancini is reshaping the national team on the road to redemption and it’s so far, so good with a generational shift taking place at the same time.

The first stage of that will be virtually complete with victory against Armenia and Finland.

History

This will be the third-ever meeting between the nations. They met twice in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Italy won 3-1 at the venue for this week’s clash with Andrea Pirlo (penalty), Daniele De Rossi and Dani Osvaldo on target for the Italians and Henrikh Mkhitaryan – who has just joined Roma on loan – netting for the hosts back in October 2012.

In the return fixture 12 months later, Armenia surprisingly held the Italians to a 2-2 draw on their own turf in Naples.

Alessandro Florenzi and Mario Balotelli scored for the Italians, with Yura Movsisyan and Mkhitaryan again the goal-getters for Armenia.

It was the final group game for the Italians, who qualified for the tournament, while Armenia missed out on a play-off place.

Betting Tip

	Armenia vs Italy	Italy First Half Asian Handicap -0.75 @ 1.99
	September 06, 00:00 (GMT+8)

After two defeats, Armenia have won their last two qualifiers with successes against Lichtenstein and Greece with Alexander Karapetyan, Gevorg Ghazaryan and Tigran Barseghyan among the goals.

The Euro 2020 betting odds strongly back the Azzurri, however.

The odds on Italy 1X2 are @ 1.27 and Armenia @ 6.80. The draw @ 5.40 may appeal to some expecting a surprise.

Asian Handicap odds back the Italians -1.75 @ 2.06 and -1.50 @ 1.83, while Armenia are backed + 1.50 @ 2.05.

Over 3.00 goals @ 2.16, total goal 2-3 @ 1.94, total goal 4-6 @ 2.74 will catch the eye of some, while a repeat of their last clash – correct score 2-2 – will payout @ a whopping 38.00.