Netherlands v Scotland betting tips: Tartan Army hard to beat
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Preview and odds for Netherlands v Scotland
Scotland prepare for their first major tournament in 23 years with a testing friendly against the Netherlands at the Estadio Algarve.
A penalty shoot-out victory in Serbia secured Steve Clarke’s side their place at the delayed 2020 European Championship and will ignite their rivalry with England during the group stages.
The Netherlands, who are 4/9 favourites to win in Portugal, will end their seven-year tournament drought at Euro 2020 – where they are 12/1 to lift the trophy.
We take a look at some selections from the Netherlands v Scotland betting tips.
Match odds
Frank de Boer’s side will have a huge hole in their defence for this summer’s competition after Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk announced he will not risk returning early from his long-term knee injury
Despite the likes of Matthijs de Ligt and Nathan Ake in the squad, the Netherlands struggled to cope without their talisman, conceding in each of their four matches immediately after his injury.
They won two of those – Netherlands are 15/8 for both teams to score and win – while they also lost 4-2 in Turkey in March before routine victories over Latvia (2-0) and Gibraltar (7-0).
Scotland are 11/2 to win as they hope to relive the memories of their country’s 3-2 success over the Netherlands at the 1978 World Cup. A unlikely repeat of that scoreline is 45/1.
However, Clarke has made the Tartan Army hard to beat with eight of their last 10 games producing under 2.5 goals in the match, which is priced at 13/10.
Netherlands v Scotland head-to-head
This will be the 20th meeting between the two teams – with the Netherlands winning nine of those contests and Scotland prevailing in six.
Oranje have won the last four matches between both sides, winning all to nil which is priced at 8/5 to happen for a fifth successive fixture.
The most recent meeting came in an international friendly in November 2017, where Memphis Depay scored the only goal in the 40th minute at Pittodrie in Aberdeen.
Depay, who has been linked with a move to Barcelona this summer, is 10/3 to score first and 11/10 to net anytime as the Oranje target a second European Championship title and first since 1988.
Previous XI
Netherlands: Krul, de Ligt, Wijndal, Blind, Dumfries, Klaassen, Wijnaldum, De Jong, Depay, Berghuis, de Jong,
Scotland: Gordon, McTominay, Hanley, Tierney, Robertson, Fraser, McGregor, McGinn, McLean, Dykes, Adams.
Key battles
Despite Van Dijk’s absence from their Euro 2020 squad, the Oranje still have solid defenders in their ranks as the aforementioned de Ligt and Ake join Daley Blind and Stefan de Vrij as the centre-back options.
They have a youthful midfield with the likes of the highly-rated Ryan Gravenberch, Frenkie de Jong and Donny van de Beek, who has not disappointed for the national team, joining Georginio Wijnaldum – who has added 22 international goals to his name.
De Boer’s side could be a dark horse this summer, especially in a Group C containing Austria, North Macedonia and Ukraine. They are 2/5 to win their group.
Scotland will want a good performance in Portugal before they open their European Championship campaign against the Czech Republic, where three points could set them on their way to qualifying from Group D – which is 10/11 – before a huge clash with England.
With Kieran Tierney and Andrew Robertson on the left side, there is plenty of attacking potential for the likes of Che Adams and Lyndon Dykes to convert.
Another rear-guard performance will please boss Clarke and a double chance result (win or draw) is valued at 33/20 against the Netherlands.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
