While Scotland’s friendly against Japan produced just one goal on Saturday evening, I’m not letting that put me off backing at least two goals at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Tuesday night. The 1-0 scoreline at Hampden was tighter than it suggests, with Scotland losing the shot count 18-8 and conceding seven efforts on target.

Moreover, goal-heavy games were a regular feature of Scotland’s World Cup qualifiers, with five of their six fixtures producing over 1.5 goals, and each of their final four assignments breaking the over 2.5 goal barrier.

As for the Ivory Coast, they carry plenty of attacking threat, and it wouldn’t be surprising if they scored over 1.5 goals on their own in this contest. Ivory Coast managed that in four of their eight World Cup qualifying wins, including each of the last two. What’s more, Saturday’s 4-0 victory over South Korea showed they’re just as capable in friendlies. 

On top of all that, four of Ivory Coast’s five AFCON fixtures produced over 1.5 goals.

I suggested backing Japan to avoid defeat against Scotland on Saturday evening, and they duly delivered with a well earned 1-0 victory. Given how underwhelming Scotland were, I’m more than happy to take the same approach here by keeping Ivory Coast onside via the Double Chance market.

The visitors produced a number of eye-catching displays during World Cup qualifying, impressively navigating their way to this summer’s showpiece without tasting defeat across 10 matches, winning eight of those.

While Ivory Coast were unable to retain their Africa Cup of Nations crown at the start of the year, they showed no signs of a hangover as they swept aside South Korea 4-0 at Stadium MK on Saturday. That doesn’t bode well for Scotland, who looked well off the pace in their 1-0 home defeat to Japan on Saturday. With that in mind, combined with the Scots' sub-par record in friendly fixtures in recent years, I’m keen to back Ivory Coast to emerge with either a win or a draw.

While Scott McTominay didn’t manage to get himself on the scoresheet against Japan on Saturday evening, it wasn’t for the lack of trying. The Scotland talisman was responsible for four of Scotland’s eight shots during Saturday’s friendly, two of which were on target.

McTominay was also a constant threat for Scotland during World Cup qualifying, averaging 1.84 shots per game, with 1.01 of those hitting the target. Digging a little deeper, it can be seen that the attacking midfielder delivered at least one on-target effort in five of Scotland’s six World Cup qualifiers. The Napoli ace was showing a similar level of threat in the most recent edition of the Nations League, registering at least one on-target effort in seven of his eight appearances.

With all that in mind, it’s difficult to look past McTominay to produce a minimum of one shot on target on Tuesday night against an Ivory Coast side that conceded 12 shots during Saturday’s 4-0 success against South Korea.

I suspect Anthony Ralston will earn a recall to the Scotland starting XI on Tuesday night, which makes him an appealing option to commit at least one foul. Despite being a bit-part player for both club and country this season, Ralston has a tendency to overstep the mark. The Scotland right back was a regular starter during the last Nations League campaign and notably committed a foul in six of his eight outings, giving away multiple free kicks in four of those matches. It’s also worth noting that the 27-year-old started against Liechtenstein in a friendly last year and was penalised once during that fixture.

Further encouragement comes from the fact that Ralston has committed a combined total of five fouls across his last four Scottish Premiership appearances for Celtic, including one as a substitute in a recent win over Motherwell.

Team news permitting, Ralston could find himself in a direct duel with Martial Godo on Tuesday night. The Ivory Coast winger has proven to be a magnet for fouls this season, earning his club side Strasbourg an average of 1.74 fouls per 90 in Ligue 1.