Preview: Malta vs. North Macedonia - prediction, team news, lineups

While the visitors sit in fourth position, Malta are located at the foot of Group C after suffering four consecutive qualifying defeats.

Match preview

Ranked in 171st place in the FIFA World Rankings, Malta knew prior to the campaign that qualifying for their first major tournament was highly unlikely.

Nevertheless, they will still be disappointed with the fact that they are yet to pick up a point after losing their first four matches by a combined 9-1 scoreline.

As a result, Malta have now lost their last 13 matches in European Championship qualifying since beating the Faroe Islands 2-1 in March 2019.

While that run of form will be a cause for concern, Malta would have taken some confidence from Wednesday's 1-0 friendly victory over Gibraltar thanks to Joseph Mbong's second-half strike.

They will now turn their attention back to competitive action, as they look to pull off a surprise result and win a European Championship qualifier for just the third time in the 21st century.

North Macedonia are hoping to claim the second win of their qualifying campaign against the same team that they recorded their first victory against.

After getting off to a positive start with a 2-1 win over Malta, they were stopped in their tracks by consecutive defeats to Ukraine and England.

The 7-0 hammering at the hands of Gareth Southgate's Three Lions would have dented confidence among the North Macedonian squad, but they restored a sense of belief on Saturday when they held the European champions Italy to a point in Skopje.

They appeared to be heading towards defeat when Ciro Immobile put Italy in front inside the opening two minutes of the second half, but North Macedonia's captain Enis Bardhi proved to be his country's hero, producing a sensational free kick in the 81st minute to ensure that the spoils were shared.

With North Macedonia currently three points adrift of second-placed Ukraine, they will view Tuesday's contest as a must-win game if they are to harbour realistic ambitions of reaching consecutive European Championship Finals.

Malta Euro Champ Qualifying form:

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Malta form (all competitions):

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North Macedonia Euro Champ Qualifying form:

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North Macedonia form (all competitions):

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Team News

Reims midfielder Teddy Teuma is expected to come into the side after he was left out of the starting lineup for the win over Gibraltar as Michele Marcolini kept one eye on Tuesday's Euro 2024 qualifier.

Cain Attard, who plays for Portuguese side Belenenses, was an unused substitute in Wednesday's friendly, but he is in contention to start against North Macedonia.

Kyrian Nwoko is expected to feature in the forward line, and the 26-year-old will be looking to add to the four goals that he has scored for his country.

As for the visitors, they are without the services of Darko Churlinov, Valon Ethemi and Marjan Radeski, who all withdrew from the initial squad due to injury issues.

After producing a battling display to take a point off Italy on Saturday, North Macedonia boss Blagoja Milevski is set to name an unchanged lineup for Tuesday's away trip.

Trabzonspor's Bardhi will provide an obvious goal threat after netting three goals in his last two games for club and country.

Malta possible starting lineup:

Bonello; J. Mbong, Z. Muscat, S. Borg, J. Borg, Camenzuli; Guillaumier, Teuma, Attard; Jones, Nwoko

North Macedonia possible starting lineup:

Dimitrievski; Musliu, Zajkov, Manev; Ashkovski, Atanasov, Elezi, Alisoki; Bardhi; Miovski, Elmas

We say: Malta 0-2 North Macedonia

Despite taking confidence from Wednesday's friendly win over Gibraltar, Malta will be fully aware that Tuesday's opponents represent a significant step up in quality.

North Macedonia claimed a narrow victory in the previous meeting between the two nations, and we think that they will draw upon that experience to clinch all three points at the Ta'Qali National Stadium.

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