Scotland v England: Friendly fire as old foes meet again

Scotland host England in the 116th edition of international football’s oldest fixture on Tuesday.

Ahead of the old foes going toe-to-toe at Hampden Park, we pick out some of the talking points and Scotland v England betting odds.

History in the making

The game has been billed as the 150th Anniversary Heritage Match, to commemorate the advent of international football on November 30, 1872. At the West of Scotland Cricket Ground in Partick, a Scotland team exclusively made up of Queen’s Park players drew 0-0 with England, whose biggest contingent came from Oxford University.

Other clubs represented were Notts County, Sheffield Wednesday, Cambridge University, the 1st Surrey Rifles and the now defunct Hertfordshire Rangers, Barnes and Harrow Chequers. Scotland’s passing game and the English tactic of running with the ball cancelled each other out in front of several thousand supporters.

Scotland bid to narrow the gap

England only lead 48-41 in the 116 meetings between the nations but Scottish wins, as well as the encounters themselves, have become scarcer in recent years.

Scotland’s last home win came in the 1985 Rous Cup when Richard Gough headed in the only goal, and their most recent victory was a bitter-sweet victory in 1999 when Don Hutchison headed a Wembley winner but England went through to Euro 2000 with a 2-1 play-off aggregate win.

England have not lost in the past five meetings and are the 4/5 favourites in the Scotland v England betting odds but the most recent two games were draws and that is 5/2, while Scotland are 18/5 to continue their fine form with a win.

Coral’s Lewis Knowles said: “It might be a friendly in name, but there’s rarely any love lost when Scotland and England meet, and with Steve Clarke’s team in such fine form, they’ll be full of confidence ahead of the visit of the Three Lions.

“We have England at odds-on at 4/5, and while you’d expect their quality to show, this will certainly be a stern test for Gareth Southgate’s side.”

Attention elsewhere for Scotland fans

For probably the first time in the century-and-a-half of the fixture, many Scotland fans will be more concerned with a result elsewhere than what happens at Hampden. Scotland will become the first team to qualify for Euro 2024 if Norway and Georgia draw in Oslo.

While the Scotland players will be focused on the task at hand, there might be some roars and celebrations from the home fans regardless of the situation in front of them.

Southgate balances progress with performance

England head to Hampden Park on the back of a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Ukraine in front of a partisan crowd in Poland. Gareth Southgate called it a good test in a hostile environment, just as he expects in Mount Florida on Tuesday night.

This is England’s first friendly match since March 2022, after a run of 16 competitive matches taking in last year’s Nations League and World Cup before Euro 2024 qualification got under way. But do not expect too many changes as Southgate says it would be “ridiculous” to overly experiment against high-flying Scotland.

“We’ve got to find the right balance of physical freshness – we’ve had a day less preparation – experience, finding out about some players, winning, playing well,” he said.

Colwill in line for debut?

England’s development under Southgate has been impressive since he took charge in challenging circumstances in 2016, but there are plenty of questions to answer as next summer’s Euros come into view.

Key among them is what to do at centre-back, given trusted lieutenant Harry Maguire’s lack of form and game time at Manchester United. Saturday’s match against Ukraine was his first start for club or country this season, with Southgate seeing his experience as vital alongside Marc Guehi given John Stones and Tyrone Mings are out injured.

Fikayo Tomori and Lewis Dunk are other centre-back options in the squad if Southgate wants to change things up against Scotland, as is uncapped Levi Colwill. The 20-year-old flourished on loan at Brighton and impressed since getting his chance at Chelsea this term. This would be a big occasion to make his debut but a great test for a player some have tipped to be a starter come Germany.

Scotland will want to take advantage of any uncertainty in the visitors’ defence and both teams to score is 17/20 in the Scotland v England betting odds, while Scotland are 17/10 to score first.

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All odds and markets correct as of date of publication