Slovakia v Scotland: Stubborn Scots to down sorry Slovakia

Slovakia v Scotland
Sunday, 14:00
Live on Sky Sports

Top vs bottom

Scotland return to UEFA Nations League action following Thursday's nail-biting Euro 2020 qualifier win in Serbia. Steve Clarke's men face their second of three away games when taking on Slovakia on Sunday in Group B2.

The visitors carry a proud unbeaten record into this match having claimed 10 of the dozen points available to them. Scotland sit top of the pool and hope to cement their position with victory over bottom of the table Slovakia who are winless so far.

Falcons winless in Group B2

Slovakia kick-off game five stuck to the bottom of the group with their stats for the campaign so far showing one draw against three defeats. The home team are ranked 37th in the world by FIFA and have looked out of their depth in this league, scoring four goals in four games but conceding eight in the process. They are already four points behind third placed Israel and nine off the pace set by Sunday's opponents.

The only slight positive for the Falcons so far was a hard-fought draw with Israel on matchday two. Since then the home team have suffered back-to-back defeats, downed 1-0 by Scotland at Hampden Park last month before losing 3-2 at this venue against Israel. Slovakia also shared a goalless draw with the Republic of Ireland in a European Championship qualifying semi-final.

Scots stood firm last time

Scotland arrive sitting in pole position knowing an away win would be enough to see them finish as winners of the group. The dark blues have played four, won three and drawn one, the spare being a 1-1 finish in Glasgow against Israel back in the summer. They took the lead thanks to a Ryan Christie penalty early in the second-half but suffered a late blow, Eran Zahavi finding the net.

Since dropping two points on their own patch we've seen Scotland reel off three Nations League wins including an impressive 1-0 over the Czech Republic. Ryan Fraser found the net inside six minutes to give his team the lead with their only shot on target in the match. The Scots defended well to protect that advantage, holding off the Czech who finished with 69% of the ball possession, 16 shots and a dozen corners.

Take the organised visitors

Slovakia are the home team but, like their opponents, they had a tough away match in midweek against Northern Ireland. Sticking to the form of this competition, Slovakia are bottom of the pile for good reason - their form has been woeful. Despite that, the Betfair traders offer a home win as 31/20 favourite and that's surprising. The draw is 9/4.

The big games continue to come thick and fast at this Scotland squad but there's confidence in the ranks. The visitors are looking strong in defence and dangerous going forward under Clarke and they'll believe they are good enough to bank another three points from this game. The current betting on the Betfair Sportsbook has Scotland at 8/5 and that's worth having.

Low-scoring match likely

The Betfair trading team ensures there's plenty to bet on in Sunday's live game, both pre-match and in-play. Clarke will rely on that stubborn defence once again and backers can get their hands on 8/11 for under 2.5 goals with over the same mark 11/10 (Betfair Sportsbook).

Scotland beat Slovakia 1-0 in their previous encounter with Lydon Dykes notching the winner. No in the both teams to score market in the rematch is even money and that's sure to be popular in weekend accumulators. Yes both teams to score is 4/5 favourite - both Sportsbook prices.