Scotland favourites in must win game against Georgia

Scotland come up against Georgia on Saturday knowing that they need to win if they want to challenge for the top two automatic qualifying positions in Group D. With both Poland and the Republic of Ireland competing for second place behind strong group favourites Germany, the Scots can not afford any slip ups against the Georgians.

Despite losing their opening fixture in the group, manager Gordon Strachan can take plenty of positives from the match in Dortmund against world champions Germany and were very unlucky not to come away with a point from that match. However, the games against Germany are not where Scotland`s fate will be decided. The key games are against the other teams in the group and it`s vital they do not slip up at home against a team that have not won a European qualifying match since September 2012 and lost their opening group match at home to Scotland`s rivals, Republic of Ireland.

With that in mind, Scotland are 8/11 favourites with BetVictor to win the match and they will be relying on their in-form strikers Steven Fletcher and Steven Naismith, who have both been scoring goals in the Premier League this season. Fletcher is 5/1 with bet365 to get the opening goal of the game and Naismith is priced at 11/2 with the same firm.

Georgia, as mentioned previously, come in to the match having already suffered defeat in their opening group game and are 5/1 to come away with what would be a shock win from Ibrox. Add the fact that they have not managed to win a world cup or European qualifying away match in 19 attempts, losing 15 of those games and it becomes clear that they are up against in this one. However, they have made it difficult for top teams to break them down in previous games, conceding only two goals away to Spain last year and also holding France to a 0-0 draw at home in 2013. This suggests that they will take a defensive approach to the game in Scotland, who struggled to break down opponents in their previous qualifying campaign for world cup 2014. In home games against Serbia, Wales, Macedonia, Belgium and Croatia, Scotland only managed to score four goals, therefore it could be another frustrating afternoon at Ibrox as they try and break down a resolute Georgia team and paddypower offer 4/6 for there to be under 2.5 goals.

With goals possibly being at a premium and Georgia unlikely to come away with a win, Scotland to win the match 1-0 could be a good option and is available at 5/1 with betfred. If the game is tight, Scotland may struggle to break Georgia down until the latter stages of the game and Coral offer 10/3 for the match to be a draw at half-time and Scotland to win at full-time.

However, if Scotland do get any early goal in the game then Georgia are going to have to come out of their shell and attempt to score to get back in to it and this could leave gaps open at the back for the home team to capitalise on. Scotland are 21/10 with SkyBet on the -1 goal handicap.

If Georgia are to get anything out of the game then it`s likely to be a draw, which is 11/4 with bet365 and without a great attacking threat, a 0-0 at 17/2 with BetVictor is more than likely to be what they are aiming to achieve.

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10/10/2014     © Frixo 2024