Charlie Nicholas believes that Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn can be key for Scotland in their clash against Kazakhstan this week.
McGinn, 24, has been superb for Villa since joining them from Hibernian last summer, earning 34 appearances in all competitions and scoring five goals in the process.
And Sky Sports pundit Nicholas believes he can be one of the main midfielders for Scotland on Thursday when they take on Kazakhstan in their opening Euro 2020 qualifier.
“If you look at where Scotland will win this game, we have inexperienced goalkeepers, so Scott Bain has to play. We also have inexperienced defenders with no Andrew Robertson. Stuart Armstrong, Callum McGregor and John McGinn will be in midfield, so I am pretty confident,” Nicholas said on the Sky Sports website as he predicts a 2-1 win for Scotland.
OPINION
McGinn is one of the most in-form players at Villa Park right now and if anyone is going to make a difference in Kazakhstan this week, it’s going to be him. The former Hibs playmaker has been super influential in getting Villa back into the play-off spots, scoring three goals in his last two Championship outings. Jack Grealish’s return from injury has really helped McGinn rediscover his form because when Grealish was injured, the Scotland international’s performance definitely weren’t as good. Hopefully for Aston Villa’s sake Grealish can stay fit until the end of the season and McGinn can continue to play as well as he has done in the last four games. He has been one of the signings of the season in England’s second-tier and if Villa are not promoted this term, then Premier League clubs are surely going to be queuing up for his signature in the next transfer window.