Barry Bannan says Scotland can revive their World Cup dream against England

Image: Scotland midfielder Barry Bannan can't wait to take on England at Wembley

Scotland midfielder Barry Bannan believes Friday's match against England is an ideal opportunity to get the team's World Cup qualifying campaign back on track.

Gordon Strachan's side travel to Wembley having picked up one point from their last two matches, after drawing 1-1 with Lithuania at Hampden Park and then going down 3-0 in Slovakia.

The Sheffield Wednesday playmaker is relishing the opportunity to play against England, and is confident the visitors will rise to the occasion.

"Obviously we're disappointed with the last two results that we had and we want to do a bit better," Bannan said.

"This is a massive game against our rivals so it's one of the best games to go and show what we actually can do.

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Image: James McArthur scored in Scotland's 1-1 draw with Lithuania

"It would be a massive boost to get a good result there. It would push us up in the group as well so it would be a really good result if we could get it. It's one that I'm looking forward to and can't wait for it.

"This is one of the biggest arenas in world football, against one of your biggest rivals as well. Growing up as a kid first and foremost you want to play for your country - that's one of your aims - but to play against England? It doesn't come much bigger."

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However, despite the pressure on Scotland to get the three points from the Group F clash, Bannan does not consider the match to be win-or-bust.

Image: Slovakia's Adam Nemec (L) and Scotland's Darren Fletcher challenge for the ball in their World Cup Qualifier

"Definitely not. Don't get me wrong it's a massive game but I think this group's already thrown up some surprise results, the 26-year-old said.

"It's going to be a group that goes down to the wire. We've got four games next year that are all at Hampden which will be a big bonus for us."

"They're a great football team, there's no getting away from that.

"I don't think they've lost a game in qualification for a while now so they are a top, top team so we'll respect them but we'll also be confident of going there and getting a result so it's about finding that in-between, where you respect them but don't respect them too much where you sit back in awe."

Image: Scott Brown (R) has been in good form for Celtic this season

Meanwhile, Bannan has welcomed the return of Celtic skipper Scott Brown to the Scotland set up after he announced his retirement in August.

"He's a massive player; he's been brilliant for this country," Bannan said.

"He's been brilliant for Celtic in the Champions League in big games, so he's a big game player and he'll be a massive boost for this squad. You need experience going into games like this and he's got a lot of it so it'll be a major boost for the squad and a great lift for us."

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