Following a 0-0 draw against Slovenia, Scotland will host Switzerland tomorrow in the first home match of the Sebastien Pocognoli era.
Despite the draw, Scotland left Slovenia with their heads held high after an extremely positive second-half. A man of the match performance from Billy Gilmour would lead to expectations he retains his place in the side tomorrow. Many were also full of praise for Ben Gannon-Doak’s performance off the bench which may lead to a headache for Sebastien Pocognoli if he sticks with his favoured 3-4-1-2 formation.
As for Switzerland, they defeated North Macedonia 3-0 away from home thanks to a goal from Remo Freuler and a brace from Zeki Amdouni. Much like the North Macedonia match, Switzerland are without captain Granit Xhaka and Breel Embolo following allegations of faking COVID-19 vaccination certificates in 2022 and 2021 respectively.
In a pre-match interview, Pocognoli said: “It was one game. Some games you score. Some games you are unlucky.
“I don’t think there’s any concerns from my side to score goals because we have good strikers. It’s not only the strikers, but we are creating chances from many positions.
“Let’s say we score tomorrow, I hope, and we can open another topic.
“I really hope we can start strong in the game.”
The last time Scotland face Switzerland was the 1-1 draw in Köln during EURO 2024 as Scott McTominay gave Scotland the lead. The sides last met at Hampden in 2006 when Switzerland won 3-1. Scotland also defeated the Swiss 1-0 during EURO 1996.
Scotland’s last match at Hampden saw them defeat the 10 men of Curaçao 4-1 before the World Cup.
Predicted line-up: 3-4-2-1
Gunn, Hendry, Welsh, McKenna, Hickey, Gilmour, Ferguson, Robertson, Gannon-Doak, McGinn, McBurnie.
