With just a point separating them in Group H of the Europa Conference League there is plenty to play for on Thursday night when FC Pyunik makes the trip to face Slovan Bratislava.
The hosts are undefeated in their previous three matches in all competitions, but are currently not in a position to qualify for the knockout stages.
Match preview
© Reuters
Slovan Bratislava have had a mixed experience this season in the Europa Conference League, having one victory and defeat alongside two draws across their first four games.
However, the team will be very aware of the fact that their only loss in the competition to this point came against their opponents on Thursday night.
FC Pyunik were comfortable 2-0 winners in their previous meeting as two goals in the space of as many minutes during the first half proved to be enough to seal the three points.
Slovan Bratislava followed that up with an impressive 2-0 victory of their own against current group leaders Basel, and then a thrilling 3-3 draw against them in the following game.
Despite the fact they got a point in that match, Vladimir Weiss will be wanting to see more composure from his men this time around as they were 3-1 up in that game.
The visitors have actually lost more games than Slovan Bratislava in the group, but because they have an extra win to their name they do sit above them right now.
However, with just a point between the two teams, there is plenty to play for in this match, and Pyunik will also be looking above them as they could go top with a win.
The visitors will need a stronger performance than their most recent European fixture which saw them defeated by Zalgiris, who are currently bottom.
Despite that, Yegishe Melikyan's men have rebounded with consecutive victories in the league, bringing confidence straight back into the team.
Goals from Artak Dashyan and Yusuf Otubanjo sealed the reverse result, and a repeat of that on Thursday would potentially secure their place in the knockout stage if the other fixture goes their way.
Team News
Aleksandar Cavric served as the lone striker in Slovan Bratislava's most recent European performance against Basel, and after finding the back of the net in that game he could be used once again.
At the other end of the field, they will be without Michal Sulla due to a cruciate ligament injury which will allow Adrian Chovan to continue starting in goal.
The visitors deployed a 5-3-2-1 formation during the reverse of this fixture, and considering they won that game and kept a clean sheet it could be a repeat of that this time around.
David Davidyan got on the scoresheet in Pyunik's most recent outing, and that could see him in contention to feature this week.
Slovan Bratislava possible starting lineup:
Chovan; Pauschek, Kashia, Abena, Lovat; Kankava, Kucka; Zmrhal, Chakvetadze, Weiss; Cavric
FC Pyunik possible starting lineup:
Yurchenko; Baranov, Juninho, Braktov, Vakulenko; Dashyan, Gonzalez, Cociuc; Otubanjo, Juricic, Diop
We say: Slovan Bratislava 1-0 FC Pyunik
Both of these teams head into this match with the possibility of still going through to the knockout phase, and potentially winning the group itself.
Because of that, it will likely lead to a closely fought contest, but with Slovan Bratislava having the home advantage they might just scrape this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
