Another former Scotland boss Craig Brown is certainly in confident mood.

"I’m an optimist," he said. "I’m confident in every game and particularly with the way the Scottish team is playing just now. That performance against Ukraine the other day there was exceptional, so another one like that and everyone will be delighted."

"We had a great run with nine [unbeaten] in a row there but with all the games we’ve had, if you isolate that one [vs Ukraine], every aspect of the play was first class. I didn't think Craig Gordon had much to do at all and throughout the team everyone played their part.

"Also, throughout the team you don’t really see a weakness in it. It’s an excellent squad of players, even with Andy Robertson missing. He is the captain, and was the talisman for years, but it proves you don’t just need one individual."

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Former Scotland manager Alex McLeish says the win over Ukraine on Wednesday will have given the whole squad a lift.

He told BBC Scotland: "The players will be going in with confidence in their boots and intelligence in their heads.

"They'll be wanting to erode the memory of Dublin (3-0 defeat in June) by having a great performance tonight.

"Steve (Clarke) will just say 'same again'. At times against Ukraine we left two at the back but we dealt with it really well.

"My grandson got a message from John McGinn this morning. They're here, they're chanting John McGinn's name in the car, so hopefully John can get on the scoresheet again."

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Stephen Kenny has won just six of his 26 games in charge of the Republic of Ireland but there is a growing sense of optimism after a difficult start to his reign.

Of course, one of those victories was the 3-0 thumping of Scotland in June and the most recent outing was a creditable 1-1 draw away to Ukraine.

There was also a heartening 2-2 friendly draw with Belgium in March of this year.

"This is a new Ireland with a new identity," said Kenny on Friday.

"We have given 16 players their international debuts in 18 months and the style of play is something the Irish public are connecting with in a major way."

As we've already mentioned, a draw or a win is much the same in terms of what Scotland require but there's no way Steve Clarke is setting his team up for a point after Wednesday's excellent performance and the home fans wouldn't stand for it either.

"You always have to go with a winning mentality," said the manager yesterday.

"We want to feel good about ourselves going into every single game. You never set up for the draw, you always set up to win and if you're not quite good enough to win then hopefully you get the draw.

"At the moment, all we've achieved is we can't get relegated from the group.

"We can finish second, we can finish third. We've still got everything in front of us. You could get carried away looking at what we could achieve but let's just concentrate on the next game and make that next step forward."

There will be almost 3,000 Irish fans inside Hampden this evening and they seem to have been enjoying a cracking autumn day in Glasgow.

Image source, SNS

Image source, SNS

Scotland are pretty useful at set-plays too... Both of Lyndon Dykes' goals against Ukraine came from corners and the players have been gushing in their recent praise of specialist coach Austin MacPhee.

Pat Bonner
Former Republic of Ireland goalkeeper on BBC Sportsound

James McFadden
Former Scotland forward on BBC Sportsound

Ukraine's victory in Armenia means the Irish can no longer top the group, even if they win their remaining two games.

But they aren't going to give up the ghost since second place is potentially valuable for those Euro 2024 play-off places later down the line.

Ukraine's win doesn't really change anything for Scotland.

Two points from a draw today and a draw away to Ukraine in Poland on Tuesday would be enough to win the group on the head-to-head record.

Win today and Steve Clarke's side must still take something from the game in Krakow.

Lose today and Scotland will have to beat Ukraine again.

Finishing first would mean promotion to the A division of the Nations League and, more importantly, it would almost certainly secure a pot two place in next month's Euro 2024 qualifying draw.

Second place should still be handy in terms of the safety net of a play-off place for the Euros.

This is Ireland's first outing since June, when they squeezed in four Nations League matches inside 10 days, including a 3-0 hammering of Scotland in Dublin after damaging defeats away to Armenia and at home to Ukraine.

With Caoimhin Kelleher injured, Southampton goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu starts, while experienced wing-back Matt Doherty is included despite limited game time at Tottenham.

Doherty has been restricted to two late appearances as a sub for Spurs this season.

Steve Clarke said "there won't be wholesale changes" following Wednesday's win and the Scotland boss has been true to his word.

Aaron Hickey, who took over from the injured Nathan Patterson, starts at right-back and so does Lyndon Dykes, who came off the bench to score two headers against Ukraine.

He takes over from Che Adams up front.

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Scotland leapfrogged Ukraine into first place in Group B1 after Wednesday's win at Hampden.

Now Ukraine are back in pole position after a thumping 5-0 victory in Armenia this afternoon.

Artem Dovbyk scored twice, while Oleksandr Tymchyk, Oleksandr Zubkov and Danylo Ihnatenko were also on target in Yerevan.

Image source, BBC Sport

Scotland: Gordon, Hickey, Hendry, McKenna, Tierney, McTominay, McGregor, Armstrong, McGinn, Christie, Dykes.

Substitutes: Kelly, Taylor, Ralston, Adams, Gilmour, Jack, Gallagher, Porteous, McLean, Fraser, Doig, McCrorie

Republic of Ireland: Bazunu, Collins, O'Shea, Egan, Doherty, Knight, Cullen, Molumby, McLean, Obafemi, Parrott.

Substitutes: Travers, Coleman, Duffy, Robinson, Hourihane, Hendrick, Browne, Hogan, Brady, O'Dowda, Ogbene, O'Leary.

Hampden Park was rocking on Wednesday as Scotland swept Ukraine aside. That impressive 3-0 win was just the tonic after a demoralising summer for the Tartan Army when World Cup hopes were dashed.

The national stadium in Glasgow will be packed out again this evening for the visit of Republic of Ireland, with valuable Nations League points on the line.

Image source, SNS