Portugal vs. Armenia: Date, Time, Live Stream, TV Info and Preview

Fernando Santos will be looking to claim an essential win in his third game in charge of Portugal as his side look to make up for a poor start to their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign when they face Armenia in Faro on Friday.

Paulo Bento resigned from the Portuguese top spot after a poor World Cup and a 1-0 home loss to Albania. Portugal currently sit third in Group I but could move to its summit with a win at the Estadio Algarve.

The visitors currently sit bottom of the qualifying group but managed to claim a point last time out against Serbia in a 1-1 draw.

Read on for full scheduling, television and live streaming information ahead of a key encounter in southern Portugal.

Date: Friday, November 14

Time: 7:45 p.m. GMT, 2:45 p.m. ET

TV Info: Sky Sports (UK, red button), ESPN Deportes (US)

Live Stream: Sky Go, Watch ESPN

Preview

Themba Hadebe/Associated Press

As ever with the Portuguese national side, Cristiano Ronaldo's performance will be the key on Friday. The Real Madrid superstar grabbed a late winner in their last qualifier against Denmark and has been in quite staggering form for his club.

He has scored 18 goals in just 10 La Liga games so far this season, per WhoScored.com, and he could potentially beat Armenia all by himself if he plays to his best.

However, he will have assistance, and Santos has put together a strong squad for the Faro encounter, per Portuguese football writer Jan Hagen:

Portugal could be a fantastic side as they have a wealth of talent at their disposal but at the World Cup they were very disappointing in going out at the group stages and the loss to Albania was the final straw.

There are several players in the squad this time round who have hit some form, with Nani especially finding his feet of late since his loan move back to Sporting, per Sport Witness:

"

Nani voted best player in Portugal so far this season. Spot the notable absence. pic.twitter.com/upUg52kkRe

— Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) November 11, 2014"

The Manchester United winger has always threatened to be a magnificent player but lacks consistency. If he and Ronaldo can link up well together against Armenia they should be very effective and the pair will be essential to unlocking what is likely to be a staunch opposition defence.

In Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho and Jose Fonte, Portugal also have a trio of fine central defenders, any combination of which should be confident of claiming a clean sheet in front of their home fans.

Portugal need to build some momentum after a stuttering period over the summer and into the qualifying campaign. A win on Friday—after the very late victory over Denmark—would see them move up at least one spot in qualifying and end the year well with the next qualifier not until March.

Hrant Khachatryan/Associated Press

Equally, such is the tightness of Group I that Armenia could shoot up the pool with an unlikely win against Portugal. Though they sit bottom of the group, they are only three points back from first-placed Denmark who travel to Serbia on Friday.

Armenia's 2014 record does not make for happy reading, however, with just one win in eight games—against the UAE—and not a single clean sheet.

With Ronaldo on the prowl, that poor defensive record is likely to continue but a narrow 2-1 loss to Denmark and a 1-1 draw with Serbia have signalled a good campaign so far for Bernard Challandes' side.

Armenia are huge underdogs and will likely play a very defensive brand of football but a point is not an unrealistic target and would be a fantastic result for the visitors.

They will need to be incredibly well organised across the back line in order to cover the movement of not just Ronaldo, but Nani and Joao Moutinho also, with Levon Hayrapetyan likely to be given the job of covering the Real star at left-back.

If Portugal reach their free-flowing potential it could be a rout, but if Santos' side fail to hit their best—as they have so often done recently—Armenia could grab a draw.