'Significant' injury problems for Scotland ahead of Nations League clash against Armenia

Scotland manager Steve Clarke says his squad has been hit with “significant injuries” ahead of their next Nations League match against Armenia.

The Tartan Army face a trip to Yerevan for the fourth and final game of the latest international break just three days after the 3-0 defeat to Republic of Ireland.

The defeat in Dublin leaves the national side sitting third in a four team group with three points from their first two games.

And Clarke admits he will be forced to rotate the squad for Tuesday’s game, but stopped short at revealing the players impacted.

As he prepared to fly to the Armenian capital on Monday he said: “There will be some rotation.

“We have some significant doubts.

“We will assess before we travel but we have significant injuries that we have to deal with.”

Ukraine are currently top of group B1 after back-to-back wins against Ireland and Armenia, with the rest, including Scotland, all on three points each.

A 2-0 win over Armenia at Hampden opened Scotland’s campaign before Saturday’s 3-0 defeat in Dublin which Clarke was reluctant to discuss.

He said: “I will keep that between myself and my players.

“Obviously disappointing on Saturday. We will focus on the next game, Armenia.

“As we always do we will get together as a group, speak about things, show some things on video and try to get them on the training pitch and moving again for the next game.”

On the criticism he and his team received after the Republic of Ireland game and after the World Cup play-off semi-final defeat to Ukraine at Hampden Park, the former Kilmarnock manager said: “People can write and say what they want.

“There is nothing I can do to control that, the most important thing is what we do next.”

Scotland used the Nations League route to qualify for their first major tournament in over two decades after wins over Israel and Serbia.

And they will be hoping to take the full three points home from Armenia on Tuesday if they want to repeat the feat to qualify for Euro 2024 in Germany.