The news from the Scotland camp is that Kieran Tierney is fully fit and ready to feature in their fixtures over the international break.

Kieran Tierney of Arsenal during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Arsenal at Selhurst Park on May 19, 2021 Crystal Palace v Arsenal - Premier League Copyright: Sebastian Frej
Kieran Tierney of Arsenal during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Arsenal at Selhurst Park on May 19, 2021. Crystal Palace v Arsenal – Premier League. Copyright: Sebastian Frej

Kieran Tierney hasn’t played for Arsenal in over three weeks now, after suffering an injury in mid-October. The left-back returned to the matchday squad against Watford on Sunday, but Mikel Arteta didn’t risk giving him any minutes.

The good news is that Scotland assistant John Carver says Tierney has had no problems in training since joining up with his country for the international break.

“He looked great this morning, full of running,” Carver said. “He has been out some time now but he was on the bench at the weekend and he has come into the camp and trained exceptionally well. We don’t see any problems with him.”

Scotland have a couple of games over the break, facing Moldova on Friday and Denmark on Monday.

They need three points from the two games to secure second place and a World Cup qualification play-off spot. They’ve already missed out on top spot and automatic qualification.

Ideally, Scotland will get the job done against bottom-of-the-group Moldova on Friday, and they can give Tierney a rest for the second game ahead of his return to Arsenal.

There are no guarantees Tierney will actually be starting when he returns. Mikel Arteta was quick to praise both Tierney and Nuno Tavares at the weekend, and it seems like a toss-up which one of them will end up in the team against Liverpool.

It’s obviously a big call, given the chosen player will be defending up against Mohamed Salah. Ideally, Arteta will have both of them fit and available as options to keep Jurgen Klopp guessing.