Scotland vs Georgia

Hampden Park forms the backdrop for a top-table Euro 2024 qualifying Group A six-pointer between Scotland and Georgia.

Scotland pulled off a breathtaking last-gasp comeback to defeat Norway 2-1 on the road last time out and maintain an impeccable three-game start to their Group A campaign (W3). Comfortably sat at the top of the table, five points clear of second-placed Georgia, the ‘Tartan Terriers’ could make a vital step towards reaching a second straight European Championship with a win here. Based on their H2H home record, that should be a mere formality, with Scotland winning both previous home meetings with Georgia. But since both wins yielded a single-goal margin, this may not be a walk in the park, even though Steve Clarke’s men can draw confidence from winning their last four competitive home outings by a combined score of 12-1. Indeed, four of those triumphs yielded multi-goal margins.

Meanwhile, Georgia will not be willing to surrender without a fight and grant Scotland the opportunity to progress, considering their own undefeated start in Group A (W1, D1). The visitors have a glorious chance to create some distance between themselves and the third-placed team, particularly with Spain’s absence from this month’s fixtures due to their involvement in the Nations League. However, achieving that goal could prove a mammoth task, even though Georgia claimed a 2-1 win at Cyrus in their opening Group A outing. In fact, the last time they won back-to-back Euro qualifiers on foreign soil was in 1995! What’s more, each of their four away victories after that came against nations ranked outside FIFA’s top 100, highlighting the size of the task at hand.