Slovenia v Scotland preview: Gordon Strachan's side face crunch qualifier
Sunday 8 October 2017 15:35, UK
Scotland are likely to have to win their final World Cup Qualifier against Slovenia on Sunday to secure a play-off place.
Victory in Ljubljana on Sunday - live on Sky Sports Football - will guarantee second spot in Group F and should be enough to book a slot in the play-offs, with eight of the nine best second-placed teams qualifying.
Anything other than a Scotland win could see them slip out of contention as Slovakia, who are two points behind and with a superior goal difference, host Malta, who have only taken one point from nine matches.
Gordon Strachan's side looked to be out of the race for second place after winning just one of their opening four qualifying games, but they've taken 13 of the last 15 points available and are now on the brink of completing a remarkable fightback.
"I think fans now all know how hard this will be," said Strachan. "They saw us only get a late winner against them, and England got a late winner against them at Wembley on Thursday night. Everybody knows how hard this section has been."
Live WCQ
Slovenia's own hopes of finishing second in the group were dented by a 1-0 defeat to England at Wembley on Thursday They would now need to beat Scotland and hope Slovakia fail to beat Malta.
Scotland midfielder Darren Fletcher said: "We will go to Slovenia with confidence in a position that we'd have taken a long time ago. Now we need to put in the performance and result that will see us over the line.
"That momentum's definitely in our favour now. We've just got to see it over for one last game but then we've got a play-off after that so there's still a long way to go."
Team news
Defender Andrew Robertson is expected to be available for Scotland despite hurting his wrist during the win over Slovakia.
Fletcher suffered a head injury against Slovakia but should also be fit to start.
Slovenia will be without Rene Krhin and Valter Birsa, with both players serving one-game suspensions after being booked against England.
Opta stats
Scotland are unbeaten in all four previous meetings with Slovenia (W2 D2) including an 88th minute winner from Chris Martin the last time these sides met in this qualifying campaign.
This will be the Tartan Army's first visit to Slovenia since February 2012 when Christophe Berra scored in a 1-1 draw in a friendly. In fact, this will be the first competitive meeting between the sides in Slovenia since a 2006 World Cup Qualifier in which the Scots triumphed 3-0 thanks to goals from Darren Fletcher, James McFadden and Paul Hartley.
Scotland haven't lost any of their last six matches (W4 D2), and are looking to go seven without defeat for the first time since April 1997 (under Craig Brown).
Scotland have also won each of their last three games, and could win four in a row for the first time since October 2007 (six under Alex McLeish).
Since losing to England in a Euro 2016 Qualifier, Slovenia have lost just once at home in their last 10 matches (W6 D3) and have not conceded a goal in any of the last five games they have hosted.
