Relegation/promotion playoffs are a new addition to the UEFA Nations League format and this inaugural action will produce some interesting clashes. One of those will be the battle between Greece and Scotland over who will get to play in League A in the next edition of the tournament.
Greece Team News
Hosts Greece will enter this two-legged battle with good momentum. They have been victorious in five of their six fixtures since Ivan Jovanovic took over. As hosts, the team did lose their most recent game against England, but that loss was not entirely unexpected. The defeat against The Three Lions also ended a 6-game undefeated streak at home for Greece in which they conceded just 2 goals against France. All victories within this streak were ”to nil” which is certainly an impressive feat. Moreover, The Azure & White are unbeaten across 10 of their 12 Nations League matches at home all while keeping a total of 9 clean sheets.
Scotland Team News
Scotland was handed a tough League A group to contest with the other teams being Portugal, Croatia and Poland. Despite the difficult group, they did manage to avoid automatic relegation and scraped enough points to reach the promotion/relegation playoff. Curiously enough, Steve Clarke’s men got all of their points in their last 3 group stage fixtures, with their 2 most recent tournament matches resulting in wins for Scotland against Croatia and Poland. The away win to Poland also put an end to a disastrous streak of 7 winless away games (or matches in which the team was considered the away team) and could be something that gives Scotland hope ahead of the trip to Greece.
Head-to-Head-Games
Overall, Greece and Scotland have met on 2 occasions during the Euro 1996 qualifying stage in which they shared a group. Both games ended in 1-0 results, with each team winning their respective home fixture.
Greece – Scotland Betting Prediction
My pick here is for Greece to win. They will have the advantage of momentum on their side and a very good record at home. Greece have managed to make their home games difficult for any visiting team, as evidenced by the very low number of losses they have incurred. What is even more impressive is the fact that they rarely seem to concede as hosts. All of this spells trouble for Scotland, who despite managing to win their most recent 2 UNL group fixtures, have experienced a lot of issues with away matches.
So for me, this is shaping up to be a win for the hosts, Greece. I will not be surprised if this is a low-scoring affair as generally they are not involved in games with many goals. What will also not surprise me is if they manage to keep a clean sheet here and add to their impressive record.
Betting Tip: Greece To Win
Bookmaker: Stake
Odds: 2.02
Stake
Place your bet on Greece – Scotland at Stake