Scotland and Slovakia clash at Hampden Park in Glasgow on Thursday in a match that could decide which team will finish second in World Cup Qualifying Group F and advance to the play-offs. Slovakia have the advantage of having won the reverse fixture quite comfortably, it ended 3-0 with Robert Mak bagging a double and Adam Nemec rounding off the score. With England all but secure of finishing top of the group table, Slovakia, Scotland and Slovenia have two matches to decide which of them will enter the play-offs.
Scotland had two easy matches, at least on paper, at the start of September and they did well to win both of them. First they secured a 3-0 victory in Lithuania and three days later they beat Malta 2-0. Now they have a decisive match ahead of them, Slovakia are just one point ahead and if Scotland win they will gain a serious advantage in the race for second place as Slovenia are expected to lose their match in England. Scott Brown and Stuart Armstrong were both pulled out of the squad due to injury and Matt Ritchie is also set to miss out.
Slovakia had a very tough couple of matches in September, they started well with a vital 1-0 victory over Slovenia but then they lost 2-1 in England despite having taken an early lead at Wembley. Now they are in second place but both Scotland and Slovenia are just one point behind, so they really can not afford to lose Thursday's match in Glasgow. Head coach Jan Kozak doesn't have any injury concerns ahead of this match, so he will probably employ the same eleven that played against England last month.
Probable line-ups:
Scotland: Gordon - Tierney, Martin, Mulgrew, Robertson - McArthur, Fletcher - Forrest, Snodgrass, Phillips - Griffiths
Slovakia: Dubravka - Pekarik, Gyomber, Skriniar, Hubocan - Lobotka, Kucka - Mak, Hamsik, Weiss - Nemec
My prediction: 1-1 draw.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Scotland win - 2.55
Draw - 3.25
Slovakia win - 3.00
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