Scotland travel to Greece for the first leg of their Nations League qualifier tie, Steve Clarke’s side put in an excellent showing of themselves in the group stages of the tournament, finishing 3rd behind Portugal and Croatia in the group, but winning the same number of games as Zlatko Dalic’s side and only missing out on the knockout rounds by one point.

Scotland only failed to score in one of their six group games in the Nations League, which was against Portugal at home where they put in an excellent defensive performance and naturally struggled to have an attacking threat against one of the most talented squads in Europe.

Scotland did find the back of the net in Portugal, showcasing their ability to disrupt even the most elite sides, Steve Clarke will be optimistic of his sides’ chances of navigating their way through this leg based on their group stage performances.

Greece can be a stubborn side, they only conceded four goals in their Nations League group but it was notably a far weaker group compared to Scotland’s, with Ireland and Finland both conceding double digits in goals across the six games, suggesting that Greece and England, who finished as the top two sides, were not really tested in the group stages.

This tie will decide who is promoted/relegated, so it does have quite a bit riding on it, being in the ‘A’ category is very beneficial when it comes to qualification, as well as regularly testing your squad against the best sides in Europe. Look for Scotland to get on the scoresheet here.

Thomas Tuchel takes charge of his first game as head coach of the Three Lions and he has picked an interesting squad which tells us a little about how he is going to set up this England side. Tuchel has preferred a back three for the majority of his managerial career, he won the Champions League with Chelsea utilising a back three and could find himself having the right profiles to go with this set up again.

Jude Bellingham is really interesting in this shape, I don’t think Tuchel would like him as one of the two holding midfielders in his 3-4-3 system and instead look to deploy him as one of the advanced 10s, given his ability to regularly produce in the final third. The pressure of putting on an England shirt usually hampers the performance of players, but Bellingham appears to shrug off this pressure and has been bright since being introduced to the England camp.

Bellingham has had 12 shots across his four Nations League appearances this season (3.09 per 90) which can aid him in helping get England off to a bright start in the World Cup qualifiers. England should really qualify quite comfortably looking at the other sides in their group.

Bellingham’s role in Tuchel’s England side is yet to be seen but he’s expected to continue to be more attacking minded which should aid his chances of finding the target here, as well as his promising shot volume.

Wales look like a new side under Craig Bellamy and will be really optimistic about their chances of qualifying for the World Cup looking at their group. Aside from Belgium, Wales will feel like this group is there for the taking with the rest of the spots filled up by North Macedonia, Lichtenstein and their opponents here in Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan really struggled in their Nations League B group, finishing bottom with no wins and remarkably, not scoring a single goal. They conceded 15 goals across their six games with their opponents scoring 3+ goals in three of these fixtures – notably these were all away games.

Wales showed their progression under Craig Bellamy with a 4-1 win at home against Iceland to wrap up their Nations League group stage. They topped the group and didn’t lose a game, being particularly effective on home ground. This could be another real struggle for Kazakhstan judging by their performances in the group stages of the Nations League.

Wales have the attacking talent to hurt this Kazakhstan side, namely through Brennan Johnson and Dan James who have been bright for their club sides this season. The Welsh are riding a wave of confidence and could score a few goals here.