Austria vs Scotland

Austria and Scotland go head-to-head at the Ernst Happel Stadion in a high-stakes 2022 World Cup qualifying encounter.

Since being held to a 2-2 away draw to Scotland in their 2022 World Cup qualifying curtain-raiser, the Austrians have alternated a victory (2) and a defeat (2) across their subsequent four Group F outings as they trail second-placed Israel by three points. Winless in their last three World Cup qualifying H2Hs (D2, L1) – two of which saw them draw a blank – Austria’s chances of interfering in the top-two race look slim already. However, a flying start could improve their hopes of winning this fixture since a staggering 70.73% of Austria’s internationals under Franco Foda over the past four years have seen the nation to score the opener go on to wrap up a win. But the hosts’ mixed fortunes across their last three competitive home games (W1, D1, L1) are not inspiring.

On the other hand, since playing out back-to-back draws at the beginning of their World Cup qualifying campaign, none of Scotland’s three subsequent Group F matches have ended level (W2, L1), with each game won/lost in that period seeing the winner on the day keep a clean sheet. Seeking their first World Cup finals appearance since 1998, the ‘Tartan Terriers’ face an uphill task of bridging down a two-point gap on Israel as they’ve gone winless in seven of their last eight internationals on foreign soil (D4, L3 – 90 mins only) since a 2-1 win over the Czech Republic in September 2020. Scotland can at least find some comfort in beating lowly Moldova 1-0 last time out, snapping a four-match winless streak (D1, L3), a run that saw them fail to score a single goal.