World Cup qualifying betting preview and tips including Scotland v England
Scotland are fancied to get something from Saturday's World Cup qualifier against England as Matt Brocklebank previews the pick of the action.
Recommended bets: World Cup qualifiers
Click here for our transparent tipping record.
The picture is quite clear ahead of the latest clash in international football's oldest rivalry.
Scotland, occupying a modest fourth in Group F as the World Cup campaign resumes, simply have to start picking up more points to be in with a shout of claiming the single play-off place available in the section, while England must keep their foot on the gas to keep second-placed Slovakia at arm's length.
With plenty of the hard work already done and dusted - England have won four and drawn one of their five games - it remains to be seen whether maintaining their superiority over the chasing pack will prove to be enough of an incentive for Gareth Southgate's side to put on a show at Hampden Park.
They are unquestionably a stronger unit from back to front, have yet to concede a goal and boast a fantastic recent record against their neighbours.
England are correctly priced as odds-on favourites (generally 8/11) to keep the ball rolling with another win and anyone wishing to get stuck in could do worse than head to the half-time/full-time betting, where the Three Lions are 7/4 to overpower Scotland from an early stage.
They've won in this manner in the two most recent international friendlies with Scotland, as well as the reverse fixture at Wembley in November, while they've also impressed in the first half of their last three games, drawing with Spain, succumbing to Germany in the second period, and taking the lead through Jermain Defoe after 21 minutes before going on to a comfortable 2-0 victory against Lithuania when last together towards the end of March.
However, as touched upon already, the timing of this match could prove counter-productive for England, coming as it does when all the dust has settled at the end of an exhausting Premier League season and just before the players all attempt to gain some rest ahead of the start of the major pre-season tours in mid-July.
Harry Kane has enjoyed another prolific season with Spurs and in theory could run riot against Charlie Mulgrew and Russell Martin, who ply their trade with Blackburn and Norwich respectively in the Sky Bet Championship.
It is also true that for Kane this will be a 36th competitive outing since the season began.
There will be an element of freshness to England with the likes of Jesse Lingard, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Adam Lallana (missed several weeks of the season) all set to be involved, but at such a short price it looks the right time to oppose the favourites.
Scotland manager Gordon Strachan has hardly been a massive hit in his current role but by his own admission he barely had to say a thing during a training session earlier this week, which reportedly featured the Scotland squad putting in extra hours of their own accord in a bid to get preparations right.
It's clearly considered a massive game to all of these Scotland players, for whom just the faintest whiff of a World Cup finals chance should be enough to see them raise their game in front of a raucous crowd.
The 3-0 scoreline at Wembley certainly flattered England, so much so that Strachan publicly stated how sorry for his players he felt at full-time, and there is a sense that if they can change their luck in front of goal then the belief is there within the camp to get a result.
Since losing to England, Scotland have drawn with Canada and beaten Slovenia 1-0 and while that kind of form won't be enough if taken at face value, the latter result keeps hope alive and it's not difficult to envisage that proving a defining factor in how the game is played out.
A small investment on the hosts avoiding defeat is advised at odds-against.
Elsewhere on the day, Northern Ireland travel to Azerbaijan in Group C, where it's all about the battle to finish runners-up behind Germany.
Michael O'Neill's side have proved their admirable showing at the Euros last summer to be no fluke with wins over San Marino and Norway, on top of a 4-0 thrashing of Saturday's opponents at Windsor Park, and it's safe to expect another solid showing from the side, though a repeat of the easy win back in October looks unlikely.
Azerbaijan, who have lost just twice in eight home qualifiers, have shown enough in their own wins over San Marino and Norway to suggest they can prove a match, while a goalless draw with Czech Republic was the same Northern Ireland could muster when they met back in September.
The betting suggests it could be a cagy one, with the visitors edging favouritism but rather than back the draw which does make plenty of appeal at a fraction over 2/1, the safer play looks under 1.5 goals which is 31/20 with Mathathon Bet and 6/4 generally.
Czech Republic look quite a reliable team again and represent excellent value against Norway, who are playing for pride alone after their chances of a play-off were extinguished by Northern Ireland in March.
They won one game since last June, seeing off San Marino 4-1, and were beaten 2-1 by the Czechs in November.
The away side are just two points adrift of Northern Ireland in the standings going into the latest round of matches and have enjoyed some encouraging results over the past year including a 2-1 defeat in Belgium on Monday.
That outing should leave them spot-on for a return to competitive action against a Norway side who haven't played for a couple of months and as 2/1 outsiders there's enough of a temptation to include them in Saturday's staking plan.
Posted at 1930 on 08/06/17.