Ukraine vs. Scotland Betting Tips: McGinn can score his fourth goal in seven matches

Ukraine take on Scotland on Tuesday evening in the final Nations League game in League B Group 1. After a profitable weekend, @AnthonyEadson returns to preview the action and provide us with his best bets. 

This match will be played at a neutral venue in Krakow (Poland) due to the ongoing conflict in the Ukraine. Scotland arrive here currently occupying top spot in the Group and will be relishing the chance to earn promotion and compete with some of Europe’s heavyweights next time out. 

After two goals from Ryan Christie and Jack Hendry gave Scotland a 2-1 win over the Republic of Ireland at the weekend, Steve Clarke’s side now have collected 12 points from this Nations League campaign and sit two points clear of Tuesday’s opponents heading into this clash. That means the Scots need just a point to ensure promotion, while a win for Ukraine would reverse the placings.

This will be the third time in three months that these two teams have faced each other with the Ukraine coming out 3-1 winners in the World Cup play-off, before Scotland managed a 3-0 victory at the back end of September. 

Oleksandr Petrakov’s Ukraine side cruised to a 5-0 win away in Armenia in their most recent game meaning it’s now just two defeats in their last 15. Those losses have come against Wales and Scotland and the manager may recall some of his stronger players for this final group game including: Ruslan Malinovskyi, Andriy Yarmolenko and Mykhaylo Mudryk.

Scott McTominay will miss out for Scotland after picking up a yellow card against the Republic of Ireland on Saturday. Billy Gilmour is expected to come back into the starting XI, while Kieran Tierney and Scott McKenna have withdrawn from the squad.

This is a huge game for Scotland as it provides them with the opportunity to make the step up to Group A and eat at Europe’s top table. The first selection I’m backing is for Scotland to score in the second half, which is available at 10/11 with several firms including both bet365 and William Hill.

Those odds imply a 52.4% chance of this selection landing on Tuesday evening and looking back at Scotland’s recent fixtures, this bet has landed in all of their last five matches! Steve Clarke’s side have shown plenty of character to find themselves top of this group after four wins from five matches. Compare that with just one win in five earlier in the year and it certainly points to a team who are very much still on an upward trajectory. 

Ukraine however, know they have the quality to really test Scotland, particularly after the World Cup play-off back in June when they defeated Clarke’s side 3-1. With the return of some of their bigger names, I’m fancying a few goals on Tuesday, and with Scotland showing a resilience to fight back in the second half of matches during this Nations League campaign, I’ll be taking them to score after half-time at 10/11.

The other selection I’m touting in Krakow is for John McGinn to get himself on the scoresheet. Several bookmakers have the Aston Villa man priced at 3/1 to find the net against the Ukraine, however bet365 have a rather generous looking 9/2 on offer.

The key angle here is that McGinn often plays in a more advanced attacking role for his national side than what he does for his club in the Premier League. In total, he has scored 14 goals in 43 starts for the tartan army, including three in his last six appearances. One of those three came against Ukraine back in September in a match where McGinn let off six shots in total. With the potential for this one to open up should Ukraine get the first goal of the game, I’ll be having a bit of change on the Scotsman to score anytime.

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