The 2020/21 UEFA Nations League is due to begin on the 3rd of September and there are some exciting games to look forward to in this first batch of fixtures.
One of which takes place on Friday the 4th of September at Hampden Park, Glasgow between Scotland, and Israel. This is a Nations League B, Group 2 game, with Czech Republic and Slovakia being the other two teams involved.
Scotland enjoyed themselves in the previous Nations League as they won their group and secured promotion to League B. Interestingly, the group also contained upcoming opponents Israel and Scotland managed to beat them at home but did lose the away fixture.
In terms of form, Scotland enjoyed a successful end to their European Championship qualifying campaign despite not sealing a place in the finals via the group. However, the 3 victories they achieved at the end of qualifying came against San Marino and Kazakhstan at home plus Cyprus away. These teams are not great and Scotland would be expected to win.
Home form shows Scotland have what it takes to beat teams ranked below them but struggle against the better nations. They have won 4 of their last 6 home competitive fixtures with the defeats coming against Russia and Belgium. Scotland have seen over 2.5 goals scored in each of their last 7 home games, with both teams scoring in 5 of their last 7 on home soil.
View this post on Instagram It's been a while... but we're back ⚽️🏴 A post shared by Scotland (@scotlandnationalteam) on Aug 31, 2020 at 7:51am PDT
It's been a while... but we're back ⚽️🏴
A post shared by Scotland (@scotlandnationalteam) on Aug 31, 2020 at 7:51am PDT
As highlighted above, Israel secured promotion to Nations League B by finishing second in the same group as Scotland. However, having started their 2020 European Championship qualifying campaign with some good results, Israel eventually slipped to 5th place in the table. They managed to win only one of their last 7 European Championship qualifying matches, with the single success coming at home against Latvia.
Israel tend to find life tough on the road and they have won only one of their last 8 away matches, including friendlies. If you look back over their past 18 away games, Israel's only victories have come against North Macedonia, Albania, Liechtenstein, and Latvia.
Trends show Israel have seen over 2.5 goals scored in 6 of their last 7 away games. Both teams have scored in 50% of their last 6 games away from home.
Team news and Scotland do not have a great deal of international experience in their squad. Liverpool’s Andy Robertson will captain the team and he is the most experienced member with 34 caps.
Israel will be relying on the goals of experienced forward Eran Zahavi plus Hoffenheim striker Moanes Dabour, who could both give the Scottish defence problems.
We expect to see plenty of goalmouth action in this game and both teams finding the back of the net. It would not be a surprise to see a similar result to the last time the two teams met in Scotland, with the hosts coming out on top in a high scoring game.