Turkey vs Azerbaijan Prediction & Betting Tips - International Friendlies

Prediction published on 25/05/2021, 10:53  by Nella Wagah | Modified on 25/05/2021 at 12:56 in Football Predictions

The legendary Senol Gunes is back at the Turkey national team and his impact is being felt, even as the team prepares for the Euro Championships. Gunes’ side will be hosting Azerbaijan in a friendly game in Alanya on Thursday as preparations intensify for the Euros. A friendly match against Northern Ireland, which should have come right after this was canceled, so Turkey will only play Moldova before leaving for the Euros. With the Turkish league ending earlier than most European leagues, they have more time to train together ahead of the Euros and the coach named a 30-man team early enough for camp. Going to this friendly, Gunes’ side is devastating in attack but he will hope to see better defending. They are on three undefeated matches, having opened their 2022 World Cup qualification campaign with two wins and a draw, scoring 10 goals in the process. Skipper Burak Yilmaz has had a good season with Lille and scored four of the 10 goals. It will concern the coach though that they have just two clean sheets in the last 11 matches. In seven of the 11 matches, Turkey have conceded two goals or more. At home, they are unbeaten in five matches but have just two wins in the last seven. They’ve also conceded at least two goals in each of the last five home games, but also scored two or more.

Azerbaijan are on three straight losses and have no win in their last eight matches. They had a poor start to the 2022 World Cup qualifiers and a bad run that has seen them win just twice in the last 21 matches, means they won’t be playing at the Euros. Their goal scoring returns haven’t been great and maybe they won’t be the best to test Turkey’s defensive discipline the way Gunes would want. Though they’ve scored in the last two games, Azerbaijan have failed to hit the back of the net in six of their last eight matches. They have some good defensive organization to test Turkey though and from this the Euro bound side will gain. Azerbaijan’s only goal in their last five away matches came from the penalty spot in their 2-1 friendly loss against Qatar and they’ve conceded twice in just one of the last six away matches.