Venue: The Estadio Nacional Sunday, June 7th 2009 Kick-Off:21:30 Subscribe to Sky Now

Ecuador travel to Lima on Sunday evening to face off against Peru in a World Cup Qualifier in South America's group zone live on Sky Sports.

The Ecuadorians lie in 8th position in the South American zone on 14 points just 3 points behind 5th placed Uruguay with todays game in hand, but now 8 points behind 4th placed Argentina, who Ecuador host in Quito on Wednesday. The top four in the 10-team group go directly to South Africa for the World Cup, while the fifth-placed team would have a playoff with the fourth-placed team from the North and Central America and Caribbean region.

With that in mind, Ecuador know that anything less than the three points against Peru will severely dent their World Cup chances. They have qualified for the last two World Cups, and come into this clash as the overwhelming favourites, particularly because Peru have experienced such a disastrous campaign.

Ecuador are not only very solid in defence but they are also very versatile when moving forward, and they tend to take advantage of vulnerable teams like Peru. They have impressed when playing away from home, and they will be motivated to win their first match after three negative results.

Peru meanwhile, with only one victory from twelve matches, have been by far the worst team of the competition. A 3-1 home defeat by bitter rivals Chile a few months back was the low point for Peru in a campaign which has already seen them lose 6-0 in Uruguay, 5-1 in Ecuador and 3-0 against Bolivia and Brazil. Peru is 1-5-5 in qualifying, with its only win coming against Venezuela last September.

Jose Del Solar's men will be playing for pride as much as anything else, with Peru not having beaten Ecuador in this competition for 34 years. Back in 2007 Ecuador hammered Peru 5-1, and unless Peru pick up their game they could experience another crushing defeat.

The good news for Peru however, is that Hamburg striker Paulo Guerrero returns to the side after completing a six-match suspension after verbally abusing a referee. Peru will also look to the inspiration of Fiorentina midfielder Juan Vargas. Peru is led by captain, and former Newcastle midfielder Nolberto Solano, who at the age of 34 is still a productive player for his nation. Outside of Solano and Vargas there is not a lot to rave about.

Ecuador meanwhile, will be missing new Birmingham City striker Christian Benitez having undergone surgery on a shoulder injury recently. Birmingham broke their club transfer record to secure the signing of the Ecuadorian striker for £9.2million, beating of a number of top European clubs chasing the 23-year-old's signature. Benitez signed from Mexican club Santos Laguna having impressed in the 2006 World Cup in Germany and in Mexico's Primera Division over the last two campaigns, where he has scored 31 goals in 58 games, bringing notable praise.

English-based winger Antonio Valencia and forward Felipe Caicedo are both suspended for the Peru game along with defenders Ivan Hurtado and Giovanny Espinoza. Uruguay-born defender Marcelo Fleitas will step into the defence - who at the age of 35 has been given his first international call-up, while Walter Ayovi, Cristian Noboa and Carlos Tenorio are all hoping to start.

The visiting Ecuadorians can take heart from recent history, their last qualifying defeat in Peru, a 4-0 reverse, stretches right back to March 1977. Since then in qualifiers the Ecuadorians have emerged triumphant four times and shared the spoils on a further four occasions. Taking into account Peru's poor performance to date in this years qualifiers as well, and it looks like a comfortable victory would be in store for Ecuador. However, with a few of their key men out suspended, they could well be pushed all the way for the victory they desperately need.

Dave's Prediction:

Peru 0 Ecuador 2 @ 11.00 with Ladbrokes