Scotland vs Isreal: A trio of tips for Saturday's World Cup qualifier at Hampden Park

A clash synonymous with Groundhog Day as Scotland and Israel meet for the seventh time in competitive action in the space of three years! 

With a goal or less splitting these two sides in all six of the last six meetings, the bookmakers must really fancy the home crowd at Hampden Park to swing the tie in the hosts favour with the Scots are priced as clear favourites at around 9/10. Steve Clarke’s side have been in fine fetal as they followed defeat to Denmark with back-to-back one nil victories over Moldova and Austria in last months international break. 

In terms of team news, Clarke will be without the suspended Grant Hanely. Scott McTominay could slot in at the back, as he has done previously for his country and his quality could be crucial if the Tartan Army are going to stop a prolific Israely front two of Munas Dabbur and Eran Zahavi. The latter has a goals per 90 average of 0.71 in a 197 game long club career!

My strongest fancy for this fixture is Munas Dabbur to register at least 2 shots at even money with Betfair. 

Domestically, he has an outstanding goalscoring record averaging 0.58 goals per 90, that’s 101 goals in 214 appearances. Over the course of his career he has averaged 3.16 shots per 90 hitting the target with 45% of those strikes! 

He is almost as clinical for his nation. In 30 appearances, he has averaged 0.43 goals per 90 and has been in a rich vein of form for these qualifiers directly contributing to four goals in five appearances, that converts to 1.23 goals and assists per 90. 

In Israel’s World Cup Qualifying campaign, he has started four games, racking up 13 shots in the process, three of which have hit the back of the net. Therefore, although the bookies are predicting a cagey affair here I think this is a generous price, especially considering William Hill have him odds on for three shots! 

Fitting both Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney into the left side of Scotland’s defence has proven to be problematic for Steve Clarke, however, he seems to have found a balance with the former at left wing back and the latter at left centre back. 

Despite a deeper role then his fellow top flight full back, Tierney has registered three assists in Scotland’s WCQ so far, all of which came against the Faroe Islands and with the inform Lyndon Dykes expected to start there is every chance he will add to this tally. 

Dykes will be brimming with confidence given the fine start to the campaign bagging six goals so far, two of which coming in his last two starts for his nation. Therefore, if Tierney can get the ball into the box with the quality we all know he possesses, then QPR’s talisman will fancy his chances of dispatching it. 

If you fancy a bit of a longshot, you can combine a Kieran Tierney assist with Dabbur to accumulate four shots using Betfair’s ‘Build Your Odds’ at 70/1. The two times Dabbur has made it two the 70th minute in these qualifiers he has hit this line so it should provide a bit of interest at a very chunky price.

Best of luck if you are backing any of these selections and please remember to gamble responsibly.