We have reached the final round of matches in the group stage of the 2021 Copa America. Things are delicately poised in Group B and there are two quarter-final qualifying places up for grabs ahead of the meeting between Venezuela and Peru.
This match will be played at the Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha, Brasília, with Venezuela beginning the final round of games bottom of the table on 2 points, while Peru are in third place with 4 points to their name.
Venezuela come into the match on the back of a 2-2 draw against Ecuador on the 20th of June. Venezuela twice fell behind during the game but managed to rescue a point having scored a equalising goal in the 91st minute.
That was a second successive draw in the group for Venezuela following the good point against Colombia, a game during which neither team managed to make the breakthrough.
The only defeat to date in the group for Venezuela came in their opening fixture against Brazil and the match ended 3-0 in favour of the hosts.
Venezuela have managed to reach the quarter-final in each of the previous two Copa America tournaments and with Ecuador having to face Brazil in their final fixture, the draw could be enough to see Venezuela progress.
Trends show Venezuela do not score a huge number of goals and they have found the back of the net only 4 times in their previous 9 games.
Peru are in a strong position coming into this match having picked up 4 points from their previous 3 games. They started with a disappointing 4-0 loss against Brazil but managed to pick themselves up to record a good 2-1 win over Colombia in their second fixture of the competition.
However, they would have been looking for a second victory in their third game against Ecuador but they found themselves 2-0 down before half time. A strong showing in the second half saw Peru score two unanswered goals to take a point.
Trends show Peru have been struggling to win games recently and they have recorded only 2 wins from their last 12 matches in all competitions.
They have been struggling to keep clean sheets and one of their most recent came in the 2019 Copa America, thanks to a 0-0 draw with Venezuela.
Team news and Venezuela will be hoping for more from their attacking players, with either Fernando Aristeguieta or Sergio Córdova expected to play up-front.
Peru on the other hand will be looking at their defence, which has been struggling in recent times. There is a possibility they could switch to a back five for this game.
We are not expecting to see a huge number of goals in this match and with Venezuela expecting a point to be enough to take them through, they could adopt defensive approach.
That means we could easily end up with a 0-0 draw and both teams happy to take a point.