Poland vs Scotland prediction: EUROPE: UEFA Nations League – League A betting tips on match 2024-11-17 19:45.
[p]Prior to round five of UEFA Nations League (UNL) Group A1, Poland were still in the race for a quarter-final spot, but a subsequent 5-1 defeat to Portugal means they’re now solely battling to preserve their top-flight status. With advancing no longer a mathematical possibility, the best Poland can hope for is a spot in the League A/B play-offs, which they’ll secure should they avoid defeat against Scotland here. [/p]
[p]That’s something they should be confident of doing based on the last 11 H2Hs (W4, D6, L1), but they’ll again have to play without the talismanic Robert Lewandowski here. His absence will certainly only serve to further hinder a side who’ve lost six of their ten UNL home games (W2, D2), and without a clean sheet in their last six such games, their League A status certainly hangs in the balance. [/p]
[p]After an eight-match winless run, Scotland finally won a game of football as they beat ten-man Croatia 1-0 at Hampden Park. Although an eight-game winless run seems bad enough, it was part of a wider streak of just one win in 16 matches, and when you consider that the sole win in that run was against FIFA’s #197-ranked side Gibraltar, it highlights just how much the Scots have struggled of late.[/p]
[p]Yet for all their recent struggles, they could incredibly still reach the quarter-finals of the UNL, but to do so, they have to win in Warsaw and hope Portugal beat Croatia. Scotland did win in Poland as recently as 2014, but they know that a failure to replicate that result will see them return to League B at the first time of asking, something which after losing five of their last seven UNL away games (W1, D1) certainly contributes to their outsider status for this game. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Poland’s Dominik Marczuk scored on his international debut on Friday, netting an 88th minute consolation, but his last five goals at club level arrived before half-time. John McGinn was also on target on Friday, with his goal setting up this do-or-die clash – five of his last six international goals either opened or closed the scoring.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Scotland’s last five internationals won/lost have been decided by a one-goal margin. [/p]
[p][i]Written by Chris Wilson[/i][/p]