Corner number two for Scotland as Jan Oblak gets his angles all wrong and touches wide a deflected shot from Kieran Tierney. 

The delivery is cleared without any fuss this time but it's a bright start from Scotland.

Almost the perfect start for Scotland. Robert Snodgrass whips in a corner and Russell Martin meets it on the volley at the back post area, drawing an excellent diving stop from Jan Oblak.

Here we go. Can Scotland give us something to cheer? It's do or die over the next 90 minutes...

Now a minute's silence for the events at Westminster on Wednesday.

Willie Miller
Former Scotland defender on BBC Sportsound

National anthem time... Lots of empty seats.

Now I don't want to be too gloomy here but there are a few sobering facts we must absorb before kick-off.

In the last two-and-a-half years the only sides Scotland have beaten in competitive matches are Gibraltar and Malta.

The previous match at Hampden was a crippling 1-1 draw with Lithuania. Then came back-to-back 3-0 defeats in Slovakia and England.

We didn't make it to the 24-team Euros, so what chance of taking one of the 13 places available at Russia 2018?

There needs to be a huge turnaround if Scotland are to reach a first major finals in 20 years and it needs to start now.

Image source, SNS

Chris McLaughlin
BBC Sport Scotland at Hampden

"An incredibly flat atmosphere inside Hampden as we approach kick off. The pipe band is here, the fireworks are in place, so all we're missing is the fans. Around 25,000 expected. It looks nowhere near that at the moment."

Tom English
Chief sports writer, BBC Scotland

Maribor have been the dominant domestic force in Slovenia and they have enjoyed some good nights against Scottish opposition.

Last summer, Aberdeen became their fourth Scottish scalp in six years, following European wins over Hibernian, Rangers and Celtic.

Rather surprisingly, old-stager Milivoje Novakovic is the only Maribor player in a squad full of players from all across Europe's leagues.

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And who are the Slovenia players to watch?

Midfield is an area of real strength, with Josip Ilicic of Fiorentina, Bayer Leverkusen's Kevin Kampl and former AC Milan man Valter Birsa.

Goalkeeper Jan Oblak cost Atletico Madrid £12.5m when switching from Benfica in 2014.

Defensively, the recent record is good, with no goals conceded in their past three qualifiers.

Up top, Milivoje Novakovic is still going strong at the age of 37, having done a Scott Brown and come out of a short international retirement. The old boy is on the bench at Hampden, with Roman Bezjak leading the line. He only has one international goal, so maybe that is a wee glimmer of hope...

Willie Miller
Former Scotland defender on BBC Sportsound

Scotland boss Gordon Strachan is looking pretty chipper as he explains his team selection on Sky Sports:

Leigh Griffiths up front? "It suits the rest of the team. There's a group of Celtic players there and they know each other. We thought this would be the best option. Leigh didn't let us down in the England game so we are hoping he plays the same way, and adds some goal threat."

Kieran Tierney at right-back? "He gives us a bit of variation on that side. He will have James Forrest who can run outside him, and he can give us a different option with crosses from that side. Also, he is a very good player."

Debut for Stuart Armstrong? "He has a lot of team-mates around him so he will be comfortable there.  Everything is set up for the guys to go and enjoy themselves. You can lose yourself in hard work and that is what I am hoping." 

Scotland:  Gordon, Tierney, R Martin, Mulgrew, Robertson, Morrison, Brown, Armstrong, Forrest, Snodgrass, Griffiths. 

Subs: McGregor, Chris Martin, Anya, Berra, McGinn, Ritchie, Darren Fletcher, Bannan, Naismith, Cairney, Rhodes, Hamilton. 

Slovenia: Oblak, Aljaz Struna, Samardzic, Cesar, Jokic, Kurtic, Krhin, Kampl, Ilicic, Birsa, Bezjak. 

Subs: Belec, Sirok, Krajnc, Beric, Novakovic, Andraz Struna, Mevlja, Omladic, Zajc, Verbic, Crnic, Koprivec. 

Referee: Bjorn Kuipers (Holland) 

Tennis star Jamie Murray is perplexed by the team selection:

This is what he had to say on Twitter: "How does Darren Fletcher - Scotlands Best/Most Experienced Big Game Player - not start in the biggest match of our World Cup campaign?

"Fletcher is captain of WBA - top half EPL team - leader - plays every minute of every game - can we really say that we have better options?"  

Tom English
Chief sports writer, BBC Scotland

Scotland and Slovenia have been drawn together in World Cup qualifying before.

Neither side made it to the 2006 finals in Germany, with the Scots finishing third behind eventual winners Italy and Norway, one point ahead of Slovenia.

The Hampden meeting finished 0-0, with Scotland winning 3-0 in Celje.

There was an away friendly in 2012, with Christophe Berra nodding home in a 1-1 draw in Koper. 

Image source, SNS