Scotland v England: Friendly fire as old foes meet again

Coral’s Lewis Knowles said: “It might be a friendly in name, but there’s rarely any love lost when Scotland and England meet, and with Steve Clarke’s team in such fine form, they’ll be full of confidence ahead of the visit of the Three Lions.

“We have England at odds-on at 4/5, and while you’d expect their quality to show, this will certainly be a stern test for Gareth Southgate’s side.”

Attention elsewhere for Scotland fans

For probably the first time in the century-and-a-half of the fixture, many Scotland fans will be more concerned with a result elsewhere than what happens at Hampden. Scotland will become the first team to qualify for Euro 2024 if Norway and Georgia draw in Oslo.

While the Scotland players will be focused on the task at hand, there might be some roars and celebrations from the home fans regardless of the situation in front of them.

Southgate balances progress with performance

England head to Hampden Park on the back of a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Ukraine in front of a partisan crowd in Poland. Gareth Southgate called it a good test in a hostile environment, just as he expects in Mount Florida on Tuesday night.

This is England’s first friendly match since March 2022, after a run of 16 competitive matches taking in last year’s Nations League and World Cup before Euro 2024 qualification got under way. But do not expect too many changes as Southgate says it would be “ridiculous” to overly experiment against high-flying Scotland.

“We’ve got to find the right balance of physical freshness – we’ve had a day less preparation – experience, finding out about some players, winning, playing well,” he said.

Colwill in line for debut?

England’s development under Southgate has been impressive since he took charge in challenging circumstances in 2016, but there are plenty of questions to answer as next summer’s Euros come into view.

Key among them is what to do at centre-back, given trusted lieutenant Harry Maguire’s lack of form and game time at Manchester United. Saturday’s match against Ukraine was his first start for club or country this season, with Southgate seeing his experience as vital alongside Marc Guehi given John Stones and Tyrone Mings are out injured.

Fikayo Tomori and Lewis Dunk are other centre-back options in the squad if Southgate wants to change things up against Scotland, as is uncapped Levi Colwill. The 20-year-old flourished on loan at Brighton and impressed since getting his chance at Chelsea this term. This would be a big occasion to make his debut but a great test for a player some have tipped to be a starter come Germany.

Scotland will want to take advantage of any uncertainty in the visitors’ defence and both teams to score is 17/20 in the Scotland v England betting odds, while Scotland are 17/10 to score first.

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All odds and markets correct as of date of publication