Written By: Kevin Mac, , Match Preview

IT's all about momentum for Steve Clarke and Scotland as they bid to make it three wins in a row ahead of the crunch Euro 2020 play-offs in March.

But revenge is also on the agenda as the Scots try to make partial amends for the 3-0 hammering in Kazakhstan that pretty much ruined their hopes of automatic qualification in the first Group I game.

That humiliation in Astana signalled the death knell for Alex McLeish's reign, although he held on for a few more months before the Tartan Army were finally put out of their misery.

Clarke was warmly welcomed by most fans who assumed he would quickly make Scotland much harder to beat and bring a bit of organisation to the chaos.

It didn't quite work out that way, with his side sneaking past Cyprus at home before suffering four heavy defeats at the hands of big guns Belgium and Russia.

But Scotland are belatedly picking up a bit of form under the former Kilmarnock boss, beating San Marino 6-0 at home before chalking up a more impressive 2-1 win in Cyprus in the last qualifier.

Now they can seal third spot with a victory over Kazakhstan, which would pretty much be par for the course in a group containing sides who both went deep into the 2018 World Cup.

While far from pretty, the victory in Cyprus was a good result, given the number of injury call-offs Clarke had to cope with in the build-up.

Deprived of Andy Robertson, Scott McTominay, Kieran Tierney, Charlie Mulgrew and Ryan Fraser, it was no mean feat to nick a win in Nicosia.

I was wary of betting on a result in that game given Scotland's makeshift defence and instead decided to go for goals, tipping both teams to score and over 2.5 strikes, which worked out nicely.

I'm more confident of a Scotland victory in the final qualifier, though, as Kazakhstan's form has been terrible since that infamous thumping of McLeish's side.

Their only other victories have come against whipping boys San Marino and even the minnows managed to score against them in Saturday's 3-1 win.

Cyprus managed to take four points off the Kazakhs so Clarke's side should have enough firepower to justify their status as 4/7 favourites at 888Sport.

Doubling a Scots victory with both teams to score looks like the way to go, given Kazakhstan's only blanks in the group have come against Russia and Belgium. That pays 10/3 at Bet365 while both teams to score on its own is a decent 7/5 at SportPesa.

Over 2.5 goals has come up in every Scotland game under Clarke and the evidence of Saturday's match, where the Scots looked decent going forward and ropey in defence again, suggests that will continue. It's priced 13/10 with Marathonbet which looks great value.

Clarke's side looked far better with Steven Naismith restored up front but the Hearts man went off after taking a knock and is a doubt for this one.

So it's better sticking with a winger or midfielder for a Scotland scorer. John McGinn is on an incredible run of scoring form, with five goals in this campaign, and is 13/5 with Betway to net at any time.

But I'll be going for Ryan Christie instead as the Celtic man is a more regular scorer at club level and opened his international account with a screamer against Cyprus. Chrisite is only a little shorter at 12/5 with Betway.

This match between Scotland and Kazakhstan will be played on Nov 19, 2019 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Scotland vs Kazakhstan prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.

Betting Tips and Predicitions
Scotland win and both teams to score
10/3
Ryan Christie anytime scorer
12/5
Over 2.5 goals
13/10
Marathonbet

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