Alex McLeish's selection dilemma ahead of Scotland's first Euro 2020 qualifier

Scotland boss Alex McLeish will have to make at least six changes when his team open their Euro 2020 campaign in Kazakhstan.

Allan McGregor, Andy Robertson, Callum Paterson, Ryan Fraser, Ryan Christie and Steven Fletcher have all dropped out since the side secured consecutive wins in November. McLeish is also missing a host of other injured players.

Here, Press Association Sport examines the selection dilemmas facing the Scotland boss.

Goalkeeper

McGregor and Craig Gordon have dominated the Scotland number one jersey for years along with David Marshall, but Alex McLeish has found himself looking for a new first-choice custodian after Rangers goalkeeper McGregor announced his international retirement a day before the squad was named. There are only two caps among the three keepers with late call-up Liam Kelly of Livingston unlikely to feature. Scott Bain is in pole position after replacing Gordon as Celtic's number one but only has one cap along with Sunderland's Jon McLaughlin.

Right-back

Paterson started last time out but is unavailable after a past knee injury sees him miss the game on the artificial surface amid an agreement with his club, Cardiff. Kilmarnock's Stephen O'Donnell was excellent against Albania at Hampden in the Nations League but struggled in Israel, however he has slightly more experience than the uncapped Sheffield Wednesday player Liam Palmer, who has successfully converted from midfield.

Left-back

With the enforced absence of Tierney and Robertson, McLeish has gone from a selection headache to having little option but to play Aberdeen midfielder Graeme Shinnie at left-back, where he performed so well earlier in his career at Inverness and the Dons.

Central-back

There are question marks over Scott McKenna's thigh injury, which could see him become the seventh player to drop out from November's squad. With Charlie Mulgrew injured, David Bates looks certain to retain his place while McLeish also has Hearts' John Souttar available again.

Midfield

Christie's hamstring injury and another victim of the artificial pitch, Fraser, means McLeish needs to reshuffle his midfield. Callum McGregor is certain to play after being named skipper while Stuart Armstrong is similarly assured of keeping his place along with James Forrest, who netted five goals in the last two internationals. McLeish at least has a wealth of strong options available with John McGinn and Kenny McLean back in the squad and Scott McTominay in form for Manchester United. Johnny Russell and Oliver Burke are options out wide in Fraser's absence.

Strikers

Both Burke and Russell have experience of playing up front and McLeish has a blank canvas with his three most experienced frontmen - Steven Fletcher, Steven Naismith and Leigh Griffiths - unavailable. Oli McBurnie has netted 18 times for Swansea this season, while Marc McNulty has scored seven goals in nine games since joining Hibernian on loan

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