SCOTTISH football aficionado Gerry Taylor (@thefurlongpole) shares his verdict on Sunday's tussle between Scotland and Slovakia.
Scotland vs Slovakia | Sunday 11th October 2020, 19:45 | Sky Sports
Both of these nations will be on a high going into this Nations League match – similarly, both triumphed on Thursday evening in their penalty shoot-outs. Scotland nudging past Israel in their Euro 2020 semi-final play-off, whilst Slovakia slipped past Republic of Ireland in.
Scotland currently sit top of League B Group 2 of the Nations League with four points from their two matches. Slovakia are at the bottom with one point.
Home and away
Scotland have a pretty decent recent record at Hampden in competitive fixtures. In the last 20 home World Cup/Euro qualifiers or Nations League matches the Scots have only lost 3 times – to Russia, Belgium and Germany.
Slovakia away in their last 20 have W5-D3-L12. The wins came against Azerbaijan, Hungary, Malta, Lithuania and Russia. In their most recent meeting at Hampden in a World Cup qualifier three years ago Scotland won 1-0 thanks to a late Martin Skrtel own goal.
Narrow win
Although the performances sometimes haven't been great, Steve Clarke has overseen a six-match unbeaten run (winning five), stretching over the past year. The team have a bit of momentum about them just now and a winning mentality.
Whilst Clarke may freshen up the team after the gruelling 120 minutes against the Israelis the other night, I expect guys like John McGinn to lead from the front yet again.
A narrow hard-fought win could be on the cards once again.
Scotland at 21/20 (William Hill) is the call.
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Scotland vs Slovakia – Scotland to win (21/20 William Hill)
