Liam Boyce and Josh Magennis look set to continue up front when Northern Ireland face Azerbaijan live on Sky Sports in Saturday's World Cup qualifier in Baku.

Kyle Lafferty is lacking match fitness, while boss Michael O'Neill is without Conor Washington, who is getting married, and the injured Jamie Ward.

Boyce scored the winner as Northern Ireland beat New Zealand in their warm-up friendly last Friday.

O'Neill's side sit second in Group C to leaders Germany after collecting 10 points from five matches, with opponents Azerbaijan three points further back in fourth place.

Northern Ireland beat Azerbaijan 4-0 in Belfast seven months ago and have spent the last five days in Turkey acclimating to the expected heat in Baku.

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Washington and Ward miss out for the visitors, while defender Craig Cathcart is also absent due to a knee problem.

But Gareth McAuley, who missed the win over New Zealand with a thigh injury, is set to return and Aaron Hughes is available should O'Neill opt for a back three.

Azerbaijan can recall Rashad Sadygov after the captain missed the 4-0 defeat at Windsor Park in November due to injury.

Brazil-born forward Richard Almeida and former Germany U17 striker Renat Dadashov have also been named in Robert Prosinecki's squad.

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Northern Ireland have lost only one of their previous five internationals against Azerbaijan (W2 D2).

Azerbaijan were beaten 4-0 by Northern Ireland in November 2016, their heaviest international defeat since October 2014 (6-0 v Croatia).

In fact, Azerbaijan have conceded eight times across their last two World Cup qualifiers, after conceding none in their first three games in the group.

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Northern Ireland's last six goals in qualifying have all come from different players (Lafferty, McAuley, McLaughlin, Brunt, Ward and Washington).

However, Michael O'Neill's side have failed to score in their last four internationals away from home soil (inc. neutral games at Euro 2016).

Northern Ireland have won only one of their last five away qualifying games (D2 L2).

Only Slovakia (62.5%) have a better shooting accuracy than Northern Ireland in European World Cup qualifying so far (57.7%).

Charlie Nicholas' prediction

Northern Ireland lost 2-0 the last time they went to Azerbaijan so they certainly won't be underestimating the task on their hands.

Azerbaijan are a difficult side to break down and they won't come out to play. Northern Ireland are a decent counter-attack team so that won't suit them, so I'm going for a draw.

Charlie predicts: 1-1 and Deniz Yilmaz to score first