Scotland vs. Ukraine Predictions: Best bets from Hampden Park including a 300/1 longshot

Scotland face Ukraine in a rearranged World Cup qualifier at Hampden Park on Wednesday evening. The winner will face Wales on Sunday and here at BettingOdds.com we’ve previewed the game and provided you with our best bets for the action. 

Let’s refresh our memories a little on how we have ended up here with qualifiers still on-going in June. This fixture was set to take place at Hampden on March 24, but was postponed due to Russia invading Ukraine. The winner was due to play Wales who beat Austria in their semi-final thanks to two goals from Gareth Bale. The winner of Scotland vs Ukraine will then travel to Wales on Sunday with the game due to take place in the Millenium Stadium. 

Back to the here and now and Scotland arrive off the back of six straight wins in World Cup qualifiers. That run includes victories over Austria, Denmark and Israel with the Scots looking to continue their success under Steve Clarke after reaching last summer’s European Championships. 

Despite the horrific atrocities that are still happening in the Ukraine, their National football team arrive in Scotland with their minds firmly focussed on reaching the World Cup in Qatar. Due to the war, Ukraine have not played a competitive game since November 2021, however they did play a hybrid friendly against Borussia Monchengladbach in May, coming out 2-1 winners. 

Moving on to team news and the main issue for Scotland is that Kieran Tierney will miss out through injury. Ryan Jack has also been forced to pull out of the squad, while Nathan Patterson is a doubt as he recovers from an ankle injury. Ukraine have no injury concerns, with no surprise inclusions expected in the starting XI.

Referee Danny Makkelie will be the man in the middle for this match. Makkelie awarded England a crucial penalty against Denmark in extra-time at Euro 2020 and this season has taken control of six Champions League matches showing 26 yellows (4.33pg) and 3 red cards (0.5pg). When on duty back in his native Netherlands this season, the official has averaged a much lower 2.67 yellows per game across the 27 matches he has taken overseen. 

Scotland are the 6/10 favourites to qualify for the next round with Ukraine 13/10, and with this looking like a really tough game to call we’ve decided to side with a selection from the anytime scorer market for our main bet of the evening. 

Oleksandr Zinchenko is a player who normally plays as a left-back for his club Manchester City, however when on National duty for the Ukraine he is deployed in midfield. We are fully expecting Zinchenko to line-up in the centre of the park against Scotland in a much more attacking role to his usual duties at club level. 

In total, the 25-year-old has scored eight goals for Ukraine in 48 appearances, since making his debut in 2015. He was also on the scoresheet in Ukraine’s last competitive match back in November when scoring in a 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Several bookmakers have Zinchenko priced as short as 5/1 to find the net on Wednesday evening, and we are pretty confident that both Betfair and Paddy Power have him priced-up as a left-back here at an eye-catching 14/1. 

With Everton’s Vitalii Mykolenko operating at left-back and Zinchenko further forward in midfield it increases the latter’s likelihood of scoring significantly, and with this in mind, we’ve also had a bit of loose change on him to score 2+ goals in the match at 300/1 with Paddy Power.

In his last 21 appearances for his country Zinchenko has six goals to his name. He’s a potential free-kick and penalty taker should he be called upon. This same selection is priced at just 14/1 with William Hill and we fully expect the 300/1 to shorten up significantly before kick-off in Glasgow.