Scotland travel to Torsvollur to take on the Faroe Islands on Tuesday evening as the World Cup 2022 European qualifiers head towards their conclusion.
The visitors currently sit second in Group F and therefore in the crucial playoff position, whilst their hosts now officially have no chance of qualification sitting down in fifth, 10 points back.
Match preview
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The Faroe Islands have had a mixed year so far - their biggest ever international victory in a friendly against Liechtenstein, winning 5-1 in June, was followed by a heavy 4-0 defeat at home to Israel.
Then came what, on paper, should have been a good result as they were beaten just 1-0 by all-conquering Denmark, but the winner coming in the 85th minute will have hurt, before a win over bottom side Moldova and most recently a defeat at home to Austria on Saturday.
It was a fairly straightforward victory for Das Team, with goals either side of half time from Konrad Laimer and Marcel Sabitzer keeping their qualification hopes alive as the home side could only manage 33% of the possession.
The fourth-smallest UEFA country by population now no longer have a mathematical chance of progressing but will be playing for pride and aiming to end a run of five consecutive defeats to the Scots.
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It is now three wins on the bounce for Scotland, and Saturday's victory over Israel came in the most dramatic of circumstances at Hampden Park.
The home side twice fell behind - an Israeli free kick opened the scoring, with John McGinn briefly levelling thanks to a superb strike in the 29th minute, only to see Munas Dabbur restore the visitors' lead two minutes later.
Lyndon Dykes, who had earlier missed a penalty, equalised again 10 minutes into the second half, setting the scene for a dramatic 94th-minute winner from Manchester United's Scott McTominay to spark bedlam amongst the Tartan Army.
The 3-2 win was especially crucial as it opens out a four-point cushion to Israel and Austria in the battle for the playoff spot.
Now, if Steve Clarke's side can come through what is a very winnable fixture on Tuesday with three points, they will be in an enviable position going into the final two games - if the chasing pair lose, Scotland could even seal second on Tuesday.
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Team News
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Rene Joensen served his suspension for a red card during the Faroe Islands' narrow loss to Denmark and was restored immediately to the lineup for the loss to Austria.
Hakan Ericson went for a more defensive 4-5-1 setup in that game and, whilst it was ultimately unsuccessful, he will most likely stick with it considering the strength of Scotland's side.
McTominay was recalled to the Scotland starting XI - as one member of a back three - after missing out on September's qualifiers through injury, which clearly paid off with the centre-back grabbing the stoppage-time winner.
Clarke's only other change from the victory over Austria came in the form of Nathan Patterson, who got the nod at right wing-back.
Scotland will rely on Dykes to continue his good recent record for the nation - the Queens Park Rangers forward has scored five goals in 19 games for Scotland, but three of those have come in his past three matches.
Faroe Islands possible starting lineup:
Nielsen; Rolantsson, Faero, Nattestad, Davidsen; Joensen, Hansson, Andreasen, G. Vatnhamar, M. Olsen; Edmundsson
Scotland possible starting lineup:
Gordon; Hendry, McTominay, Tierney; O'Donnell, Gilmour, Christie, McGinn, Robertson; Dykes, Adams
We say: Faroe Islands 0-2 Scotland
Scotland's attack may leave a lot to be desired at times, scoring just 12 times in their seven games so far, but their defence has been solid and they will surely find a way past the Faroe Islands defence with such an important win at stake. We are backing a comfortable 2-0 victory.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Scotland win with a probability of 58.17%. A draw had a probability of 23.3% and a win for Faroe Islands had a probability of 18.54%.
The most likely scoreline for a Scotland win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.55%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (11.04%) and 1-2 (9.73%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.05%), while for a Faroe Islands win it was 1-0 (6.28%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 12.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 0-1 win for Scotland in this match.
