Scotland are unbeaten across their last five competitive international matches but welcome Spain on Tuesday. George Gamble previews the game, providing a best bet.
Football betting tips: Euro 2024 qualifying
1.5pts Spain to win and Over 2.5 Goals at 9/5 (General)
Scotland come into this clash off the back of a 3-0 victory over Cyprus on Saturday and whilst it may look like a solid win, the scoreline somewhat flattered the hosts as they required two late goals from Scott McTominay to put the result beyond all doubt.
Boss Steve Clarke noted that their performance was a little underwhelming and improvement would be required in this fixture.
Excluding play-offs, the hosts have won seven consecutive major tournament qualifiers and they’ll hope they can put on a show against giants Spain at Hampden Park.
Four of Scotland’s last five fixtures on home soil have seen at least three goals and given the fact that Steve Clarke’s side have scored in each of their last nine at home, they’ll back themselves to cause Spain plenty of problems.
It’s been 17 years since Scotland started a qualifying campaign for a major tournament with two successive wins when they beat the Faroe Islands and Lithuania prior to claiming a shock victory over France in 2006 and a win over Spain here would be a huge statement.
Spain’s win over Norway panned out in a similar manner to Scotland as they needed two late goals to secure a 3-0 victory. However, the headlines from that encounter were less about the result and more about Rodri’s ferocious challenge on Norway and Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard.
Somehow no penalty was awarded and it meant that La Roja were able to clinch an opening victory whilst keeping a clean sheet.
Spain have tasted defeat just once across their last 18 away Euro qualifiers, winning 14 of those, but they have conceded at least once in each of their last four such games which shows there are question marks over their defensive solidity.
Going forward, they’ve hit the back of the net in all of those 18 matches which lends itself to the belief that this could be a fairly high-scoring encounter.
Therefore, there is value in backing SPAIN TO WIN AND OVER 2.5 GOALS in this one.
We could be in for late drama at Hampden Park with Spain’s last six European Championship qualifying games seeing a goal scored after the 80th minute and with Spain likely to dominate proceedings, the 9/5 available on them living up to their tag as favourites and the game witnessing three or more goals makes plenty of appeal.
Scotland v Spain best bets and score prediction
- 1.5 pts Spain to win and Over 2.5 Goals (Sky Bet)
Score prediction: Scotland 1-3 Spain (Sky Bet odds: 12/1)
Odds correct at 1530 GMT (27/03/2023)
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