Scotland v Wales Tip

Stop Gareth Bale and you stop Wales. That’s what they say and it’s a hard statement to argue against. The Spurs star has scored four of the last five goals for Chris Coleman’s team and set-up the other for Sam Vokes.

But there are signs that Bale may not be at his very best on Friday, not least because he was unable to train in the early part of the week after sustaining an ankle knock against Fulham at the weekend. The 25-year-old was already looking a little jaded at White Hart Lane in that 1-0 defeat, and it may be that his recent heroics have taken a toll physically, if not mentally.

If it wasn’t for the Welsh superstar, Scotland would have won at the Millennium Stadium in October where they led 1-0 with nine minutes remaining. Bale struck twice that time but it also hasn’t been forgotten up north that the Tartan Army were controversially denied a second goal that would have surely ended the contest in their favour.

Riled by that result, and by comments made by former Welsh international Mickey Thomas that this is ‘the worst Scotland team ever,’ I expect revenge at Hampden Park. There is a feel-good factor for the hosts after Gordon Strachan marked his first game as manager with a win over Estonia last month.

That clash ended 1-0 but the Scots could have easily won by more. Meanwhile, Wales were beating Austria 2-1 in Cardiff but that was a highly flattering success for Chris Coleman’s boys. The visitors dominated proceedings for long periods, creating 19 attempts on goal, but it just wasn’t their night.

On closer inspection, Wales have had a couple of fortuitous results lately while Scotland have been rejuvenated by the arrival of Strachan. Throw in home advantage and I think the Tartan Army can savour victory here by the odd goal at best odds of 11/4 with Bet365.