Scots To Plunder Polish Victory

Both teams come into the game following wins but it is the hosts that are on the biggest high following their first ever victory over rivals Germany.

Form
Poland come into the game with confidence at an all-time high after they recorded their first ever win over illustrious neighbours Germany; and what better time to do it, only months after Joachim Low’s men were crowned World Champions.

It was the Germans’ first away defeat in a qualifying match since 1998 and came courtesy of second half goals from Arkadiusz Milik and Sebastian Mila.

After dismantling part-timers Gibraltar 7-0 in their opening match Poland now sit atop of qualifying Group D, level on points with Republic of Ireland and three ahead of both Germany and Scotland.

Scotland got their first points on the board with a 1-0 win against Georgia on Saturday, but the unflattering result masked what was another impressive performance from the Tartan Army. Manager Gordon Strachan described the first hour of the game as the best passage of play since he took over as the national team manager.

Strachan’s side have now won five and lost only one of their last eight fixtures

and, although they would have preferred to see Germany beat Poland, go into this game knowing that a win would put them in a solid early position in the group.

Team News
Since Adam Nawalka took over as manager of Poland a year ago as many as 70 players have been involved with the Polish senior side. Whether it be by luck or design he stumbled upon a winning formula in Saturday’s game and after such a historic result he’ll likely look to name as many of the same starting XI as possible.

Strachan named an attacking team against Georgia at the weekend but may sacrifice one or two of his offensive players for this game. That could mean a recall to the starting line-up for Darren Fletcher, perhaps at the expense of Steven Naismith.

Head-to-Head
Scotland won 1-0 thanks to a Scott Brown strike midway through the second half when the teams met in Warsaw earlier this year. The previous two meetings – one in 2001 and one in 1990 – both ended 1-1, while the Poles won the most recent competitive meeting 2-1 way back in 1965 when attempting to qualify for the 1966 World Cup.

Recommended Bets
Poland’s odds have shortened slightly since the win over Germany and the hosts are now priced as short as 5/6 for the three points. Scotland are out at 7/2 and the draw is 12/5.

As impressive as any win against the Germans is, I’m not sure that a one-off result warrants the Poles being odds on to win this game. This is beginning to look like a very useful Scottish outfit and the 7/2 about an away win represents a very good value bet. If you prefer to play it a little more conservatively then 23/10 about the Tartan Army in the Draw No Bet market is another good bet, likewise the 20/21 available on Scotland-Draw in the Double Chance market.