Andy Walker: Steven Fletcher should start

What a fantastic occasion it will be at Hampden on Thursday night as Scotland play the last home match of their Euro 2016 qualifying group against a very impressive Poland side.

Having won 3, lost 3 and drawn 2 of our 8 games so far, there`s no doubt in my mind we have to win this nerve-racking contest to have the best possible chance of making the play-offs.

From now until the Scottish team is announced, everyone will speculate on who should play up front.

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Steven Fletcher has been our main attacker throughout the campaign but has come under increasing fire for recent poor displays. A growing number of fans would prefer a starting slot for Leigh Griffiths, Steven Naismith, Chris Martin or Jordan Rhodes.

Apart from Naismith, every striker scored at the weekend and will consider themselves to be in good form. Even Naismith can cite his recent hat-trick against Chelsea to indicate how impressive he can be as a goal-scoring threat.

I think it`s too easy to simply look at who is our best goalscorer right now for a starting slot. Given the way Scotland play under Strachan, the key to our success in our three victories so far has been in the form of our attack minded players playing directly behind the main striker.

The key to the vast majority of a lot of our best attacking play against strong, experienced opponents in tough venues has been the form of Steven Fletcher.

Even though we lost to Germany in the opening group game in Dortmund, we defended reasonably well against the world champions and scored a wonderful goal through Ikechi Anya and threatened to score again through Steven Naismith.

In Warsaw against Poland we again looked very comfortable away from home against quality opposition and scored 2 goals through Maloney and Naismith.

The key to the vast majority of a lot of our best attacking play against strong, experienced opponents in tough venues has been the form of Steven Fletcher. His ability to offer a secure first touch and bring others into the game has been terrific and that`s why, despite the recent criticism of his end product and poor goal-scoring return, I`d still play him from the start.

Leigh Griffiths has of course been playing well for Celtic, scoring both at home and in Europe but Scotland simply do not dominate as much of the possession in any 90 minutes the same way Celtic do. Fletcher is a better bet at holding the ball up, linking the play and being an aerial threat on the international scene.

Shaun Maloney has been our most consistent goal threat in this campaign and I`d argue that Naismith is not too far behind. Both are certainties to start in this crucial contest.

I covered Bournemouth against Watford on Saturday for Sky Sports and saw up close how well Matt Ritchie & Ikechi Anya played for their respective clubs.

Ritchie is clearly on a high at the moment, his goal against Sunderland recently was technically superb and on Saturday he was constantly looking to shoot or deliver a telling cross. His assist for Glenn Murray was Ritchie at his best.

Anya picked up an injury and may well struggle to be fit but he too got through a power of work defensively and has even played full back in recent weeks for his club side. Anya is perhaps the quickest player we have and his blistering pace is a huge asset for Gordon Strachan.

Having watched Germany destroy Poland recently in Frankfurt, I have to say that the Poles also played some exceptional football. In Robert Lewandowski, they have a world class striker who is in the form of his life.

Defensively we will have to be at our best but in a game where just one goal might make the difference, my four attacking players to start would be Steven Fletcher as the main striker with Shaun Maloney, Steven Naismith and Matt Ritchie behind him.

You can watch Scotland v Poland live on Sky Sports 2 from 1930 on Thursday.