Scotland captain Scott Brown knows Georgia remain dangerous opponents despite being out of the running to qualify for Euro 2016 – because his team were in the same boat two years ago.
Scotland put a dent in Croatia’s hopes of making the Brazil World Cup with a second win against them in the qualifiers as they continued to improve under the recently-appointed Gordon Strachan.
The defeat prompted Igor Stimac to quit on the spot at Hampden, although Croatia ultimately made it to Brazil.
Like Scotland swapped Craig Levein for Strachan midway through that campaign, Georgia brought in Kakhaber Tskhadadze for Temuri Ketsbaia following their poor run of results.
Georgia only have three points, secured against Gibraltar, and are desperate to give their home fans something to cheer in Tbilisi on Friday night.
Brown said: “It’s hard coming away from home anywhere in Europe. In the last campaign when we were out we were still playing for every result, and we got a result against Croatia.
“It shows you they will still be playing for pride as well.
“They have got a new manager and I’m sure they will be playing to impress him as well so it’s going to be a hard game.”
Brown looks set to captain the Scots in the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena after being put up for the pre-match media conference.
But a number of other positions are less easy to predict, including who plays up front.
Steven Fletcher has started all six games so far but is under pressure from Leigh Griffiths, who has hit eight goals for Celtic already this season.
Brown said: “They are two very good players but totally different. Leigh likes to go in behind, takes chances from anywhere. His left foot is a wand.
“Steven gets involved a lot more, he is a threat in the air, a threat in the box.
“He is playing in the Premier League for a reason, because he’s a top player, and Leigh is as well.”
Other spots up for grabs are the left-back area, where Steven Whittaker and Andy Robertson are looking to regain the place from Craig Forsyth, and a midfield area full of competition.
Brown said: “If you look at the squad, every player could easily play.
“Most of them play in the English Premier League as well, so it shows you how strong our squad. We have got two or three players fighting for every single position. It’s good for everyone in the first team because it keeps us on our toes.”