Lithuania may have registered a 1-0 win on the road away at Albania in their recent Nations League clash in Tirana, but it’s very much a case of ‘horses for courses’ as they now come up against a stronger Belarus outfit in this League C Group 4 encounter at the Vilniaus LFF stadionas in Vilnius.
An international friendly home win over New Zealand back in November of last year has been Lithuania’s only other success in recent times as the hosts have found themselves on the end of numerous defeats across all competitions which has resulted in just two wins from their last 22 matches overall.
🇱🇹 Fedor Cernych otrzymał powołanie do reprezentacji Litwy na październikowe mecze swojej drużyny narodowej. Więcej ➡️ https://t.co/Z5GWQ2V8wU pic.twitter.com/Po7N7awHIb— Jagiellonia (@Jagiellonia1920) September 29, 2020
🇱🇹 Fedor Cernych otrzymał powołanie do reprezentacji Litwy na październikowe mecze swojej drużyny narodowej. Więcej ➡️ https://t.co/Z5GWQ2V8wU pic.twitter.com/Po7N7awHIb
Within this appalling sequence of results are no fewer than 17 defeats within this 22-match period and the visit of Belarus may well see the hosts having to endure another tough night at the office despite holding home advantage.
With just one win from their previous 13 matches on home soil, the odds seem very firmly stacked against Lithuania here, especially as the hosts have managed to register just one win out of the previous eight meetings against Belarus.
Onto Belarus then, and the visitors sit level on points with Lithuania in Group 4 but they have a good opportunity to pull ahead of their hosts and indeed, perhaps pull ahead of the rest of the group with all nations sitting on three points apiece.
Although Belarus have won just three of their last nine matches in all competitions, the visitors are approaching this upcoming clash with momentum behind them as they’ve won three of their last four matches with victories gained over Uzbekistan, Bulgaria and Kazakhstan.
Even more impressive is the fact that all three of these wins were achieved away from home so they won’t be fazed by having to hit the road to face Lithuania here on Sunday, especially as all three wins have been on the trot too.
Belarus have lost just one of their previous eight meetings against Lithuania and have lost just one of their four visits to their hosts as well, while results overall in the Nations League competition have seen Belarus lose just once out of their total of eight matches played to date.
Six of these eight matches have also produced clean sheets for Belarus, so the visitors look in good shape to grab the points here.