Preview: Greece vs. Lithuania - prediction, team news, lineups

Both nations endured contrasting fortunes when they begun their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign on away territory on Friday.

Match preview

When Greece appointed Gus Poyet as their new coach, some supporters would have been skeptical about the qualities of the Uruguayan, even with 18 wins coming from 28 matches in a spell with AEK Athens.

Nevertheless, any doubts have since been eradicated with Poyet currently possessing a record of seven victories from 11 games, the latest coming away in Gibraltar on Friday.

Although the 2004 European champions were always expected to win, they efficiently controlled the contest before running out 3-0 victors, recording a necessary win with France, Netherlands and Republic of Ireland present in the group.

Poyet would have perhaps preferred another competitive fixture in order to build some momentum, yet a friendly at this stage gives him an opportunity to hand further experience to the squad.

Greece will be looking to register a third successive victory over Lithuania, although the nations have not squared off for more than a decade.

From Lithuania's perspective, they started their Euro 2024 qualifiers with a trip to Serbia, their toughest fixture on the schedule, and it came as no surprise when they suffered defeat.

A goal in the early stages of each half earned the 2022 World Cup participants a routine 2-0 victory, but Lithuania may take some positives from a contest that they were never likely to win.

Edgaras Jankauskas is the new man in charge with Lithuania having lost seven of their previous nine matches before the trip to Belgrade.

Lithuania have now scored just once in six games, that strike coming at home to Faroe Islands, and ending a four-game drought will be top of Jankauskas's priority list for this fixture.

Greece form (all competitions):

W

L

W

D

L

W

Lithuania form (all competitions):

L

D

L

L

L

L

Team News

Although Poyet witnessed his side coast through the second half versus Gibraltar, he will still likely make a number of changes for this game.

Panos Retsos and Dimitris Giannoulis may come into the Greece defence, while youngster Giannis Konstantelias could make his debut in midfield after being handed his debut as a substitute on Friday.

Vangelis Pavlidis is also in line to feature down the middle of the attack, with Tasos Chatzigiovanis an option down the right flank.

While fewer alternations are expected to be made by Jankauskas, the expectation is that he will still tinker with his Lithuania side.

Rolandas Baravykas is in line to deputise at left-back in place of the injured Markas Beneta, while Vykintas Slivka and Arvydas Novikovas could be drafted into the midfield.

Greece possible starting lineup:

Vlachodimos; Baldock, Retsos, Chatzidiakos, Giannoulis; Bakasetas, Siopis, Konstantelias; Chatzigiovanis, Pavlidis, Pelkas

Lithuania possible starting lineup:

Bartkus; Lasickas, Kazukolovas, Girdvainis, Baravykas; Cernych, Slivka, Simkus, Golubickas, Novikovas; Paulauskas

We say: Greece 2-0 Lithuania

With both managers expected to ring the changes, this could be perceived as a difficult match to call. However, there is currently far more togetherness and added quality in the Greece camp, leading us to predict a relatively comfortable win for the home side.

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