Moldova v Scotland betting tips: Play-off place up for grabs

Preview and odds for Friday’s World Cup qualifier

Scotland travel to Moldova knowing a win will guarantee a World Cup qualifying play-off spot.

Steve Clarke’s side have improved drastically throughout this campaign, bouncing back from an inconsistent start with four consecutive wins.

Friday’s match kicks off at 5pm and is live on Sky Sports as we pick out some Moldova v Scotland betting tips.

Moldova v Scotland match odds

Having reached Euro 2020, Scotland’s hopes of making a second consecutive major tournament suffered a poor start with five points for a possible 12.

But with Denmark romping to Qatar after eight wins on the spin, Clarke has guided Scotland into second with four successive triumphs to leave them four points above Israel with two games left.

Clarke said: “I think they have done alright, haven’t they? They are in a good place, working towards what our objective is now, which is to get to the play-offs in March. I think continuity is a good thing at this stage.”

Moldova sit bottom of Group F with one point, which they collected in their first outing, after seven consecutive losses.

Scotland are 2/9 to get the job done before their group finale against the Danes and are 8/11 to win to nil, while they are 19/4 to be held to a draw with a Moldova win a 14/1 shot.

Moldova have conceded 24 goals in their eight games, but Scotland are usually involved in tight games.

Scotland’s four straight wins have come by one goal including three 1-0s, with the same scoreline in Chisinau priced at 5/1.

Apart from the late 3-2 win over Israel, Scotland are usually solid at the back and less than 1.5 total goals is an option for Moldova v Scotland betting tips at 3/1.

Under 2.5 goals is 21/20 while a draw at half-time and an away win at full-time is 5/2.

Scotland to win or draw, Moldova under 0.5 goals in the first half and under 3.5 goals is 4/6.

Moldova v Scotland head-to-head

Scotland are unbeaten against Moldova in their last three meetings, with a 1-1 draw in Chisinau in 2004 followed by two wins to nil.

Goals from Christian Dailly and James McFadden secured a 2-0 win at Hampden Park in 2005.

Lyndon Dykes then struck in the 14th minute of the 1-0 victory over Moldova in September, which kick-started the Scots’ campaign.

Moldova v Scotland key battles

Dykes is Scotland’s main man up front, scoring in all four of the consecutive victories including the winners in the three aforementioned 1-0 triumphs.

But the QPR striker is suspended for the trip to Moldova, meaning Che Adams is likely to start in attack.

Adams has netted two goals in his last three matches for Southampton and is 3/1 to break the deadlock.

John McGinn has also found the net regularly during this campaign, matching Dykes’ four strikes, and is 6/4 to score any time as the last of our Moldova v Scotland betting tips.

View the latest World Cup qualifying odds

All odds and markets correct as of date of publication