Croatia vs Scotland Prediction: Back the visitors to come away with the Draw

The Uefa Nations League returns this week with Scotland visiting Croatia on Saturday from 17:00. The home team start second in the table, with Scotland bottom following back-to-back defeats. 

Betfred’s Frank Monkhouse enjoyed another profitable outing last weekend when landing a correct score winner at Ibrox. He now turns his attention to the international scene. Follow his preview and his Croatia vs Scotland predictions below...

Croatia enjoy the home advantage on Saturday, and the locals aim to build on their impressive 1-0 win over Poland in their most recent outing. The Checkered Ones start second in Nations League Group 1, following a 2-1 loss away to Portugal and that hard-fought but deserved win over the Poles.

Victory on their patch would move Croatia onto six points, ensuring they keep pace with early leaders Portugal, who visit Poland on Saturday looking for three group wins on the bounce.

Scotland failed to put a point on the board after suffering agonising defeats against Poland and Portugal. Steve Clarke’s men were competitive in both outings, conceding late at Hampden when losing 3-2 to Poland when a draw looked likely.

They then scored first against Portugal and led at the break, but second-half strikes from Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo ensured they returned home empty-handed. Will it prove a case of third time lucky for Scotland?

Croatia vs Scotland Odds

Croatia enter this game with their recent form showing just one win in their last five games. That difficult spell consists of two draws and a pair of defeats, but they take confidence from that win over Poland last month, achieved thanks to a goal scored by Luka Modric early in the second half.

A home win against lowly Scotland would provide the locals with a timely confidence boost ahead of an important end to the year. Victory for Croatia is 4/7 at Betfred, which comes is as a 64% possibility when we turn the betting price into implied odds.

The bosses at Hampden appear happy with their manager, Steve Clarke, but the former Kilmarnock leader is losing supporters fast following a miserable run of form. The Scots are without a win in their last six, with an uninspiring 2-0 victory over Gibraltar the only positive result in 14 games.

Three defeats on the bounce suggest Clarke is hanging by a thread, meaning he must improve results and fast. An away win over Croatia and a Nations League Group 1 victory would be the perfect response. Scotland are 5/1 for the victory (17%) with the draw available to back at 3/1 (25%).

Both teams to score

Scotland haven’t been winning many games recently, but they have been competitive and shown bravery in attack. The visitors have scored three goals in their two previous games in this competition, and that’s just one goal fewer than leaders Portugal. They netted twice against Poland in Glasgow and hit the opener in Lisbon.

The head-to-head stats show Croatia and Scotland have met six times previously, with both teams finding the net at least once in half of those meetings. The most recent clash produced a 3-1 win for Croatia at the delayed Euro 2020 championships at Hampden.

Scotland are exciting going forward but remain nervous at the back, and we’re backing both teams to score, which is sure to do a job in your weekend accumulators.