Levein opts for Berra’s experience over Wilson

The central defence partnership had been the only real area of debate in the make-up of the team, with Berra, the former Hearts captain, getting the nod to line up alongside Gary Caldwell at the back.

As expected from indications earlier this week, Darren Fletcher returns to captain the side, despite not having played a first-team game for Manchester United since the end of last season. The midfielder has not played for his country in 2011 and has only played two competitive games since the beginning of March because of a virus.

Aston Villa’s new signing, Alan Hutton, also makes his first start of the season, with Phil Bardsley switching from right to left-back, but there were few surprises with Kenny Miller up front on his own as expected.

Hutton left the Scotland training camp earlier this week to complete a move from Spurs to Villa ahead of the transfer deadline, but Levein is adamant the player has not been distracted from today’s task.

“I think he would have been fine anyway,” said Levein. “He is relaxed and is quite a laid-back boy. It is good for him in that if there was any uncertainty in his head, it has cleared that up. It is not like a move where you have a young player waiting to go to a club where he will make 25 times his current wage and that is all he is consumed by. Alan knows that moving from Tottenham to Aston Villa is not such a big thing as a young player moving.”

Levein described the picking of his team as “straightforward”.

He said: “It is not guesswork. It is a process., where people play in positions and you see that it works. It is about building a team up.”

The Czech team will be without goalkeeper Petr Cech. Asked if this would give Scotland a boost, Levein said: “I don’t know if it will be as simple as that. Will they say ‘Petr Cech isn’t playing, I’ll maybe take a shot from here’?

“I don’t think it works that way. That said, they’re aware Petr Cech is not playing. It’s something that will be in their heads. It might also be in the heads of the Czech Republic defenders.”

Czech Republic striker Milan Baros believes a point would be satisfactory for the visitors, and insisted his side would be unaffected by the absence of the Chelsea goalkeeper. He also claimed the pressure today is mainly on Scotland.

“We are confident that we still have a strong side even without Cech,” said the Galatasaray forward. “And the point is good for us, although we hope we can even win. They are under more pressure than us because they have to win and they have to do everything for that.”

Scotland are five points behind the Czech Republic in Group I, and 11 points behind group leaders Spain, but manager Levein believes that three wins in the next three games – against the Czechs today, Lithuania on Tuesday, and Liechtenstein next month – will be enough to earn Scotland second place in the group, and the chance of a play-off spot.