Talking points ahead of Scotland’s World Cup qualifying clash with Denmark

Scotland face Denmark on Monday in their final Group F game in the World Cup qualifiers.

A full house, including about 2,500 Danish fans will be at Hampden for the game.

Here are some talking points ahead of the occasion.

Home Comforts

Scotland secured a play-off spot by beating Moldova on Friday but Monday’s game will be significant for their campaign in March. Victory, and possibly a draw, can ensure Scotland are at home for the semi-finals with six teams with the best qualification records securing home advantage.

Win or Lose

A draw might be unlikely though – the two teams have never produced one in 17 previous meetings. Scotland have come out on top 10 times but the Danes have the better of the recent meetings, winning six out of eight games from 1986 onwards, including a 2-0 victory in Copenhagen in September.

Suspension tightrope

Seven players in Steve Clarke’s squad are one booking away from missing the play-off semi-final through suspension – Stephen O’Donnell, Andy Robertson, Jack Hendry, John McGinn, Che Adams, Billy Gilmour and Kevin Nisbet. However, the Scotland boss has given a clear indication that he will not rest the affected players. The Spanish referee, Alejandro Hernandez, has booked 18 players in his two most recent La Liga games but only handed out two yellow cards, including one for Luke Shaw, during his previous international, England’s 1-1 draw with Hungary at Wembley.

Debut boys

With Nathan Patterson suspended and O’Donnell among the players on a yellow card, Celtic right-back Anthony Ralston could be in line to start after getting his first call-up this weekend. The 22-year-old has been a revelation this season for Celtic and will aim to take his club form on to the international scene if handed the chance. Jacob Brown was handed a late debut in Moldova on Friday and could be handed a bigger chance for his potential home debut with fitness doubt Lyndon Dykes rated 50-50 and fellow strikers Adams and Nisbet walking the suspension tightrope.

Great Danes

Denmark are looking to complete a perfect qualification record having won all nine of their games so far. They have scored 30 goals and had not conceded a goal until the closing stages of their 3-1 win over the Faroe Islands on Friday. No other team in the European Qualifiers can achieve a perfect record but two teams did it for the Euro 2020 groups – Italy and Belgium. The latter were in Scotland’s group. Germany were the only team to win 10 out of 10 matches in the qualifiers for 2018 and no team managed the perfect feat ahead of the 2014 tournament.

Six of the Best

Scotland are looking to win six games in a row for the first time since 2007, when Alex McLeish’s side beat Austria, the Faroe Islands, South Africa, Lithuania, France and Ukraine.