Enter Ryan Strain, Lewis Miller and Nathaniel Atkinson - all three with credible claims to the coveted right back spot in a line up bristling with depth everywhere but upfront.

The Scotland-based trio all possess their attributes, though at this juncture it’s St Mirren’s Strain - already a Scottish Premiership player of the month this season - who appears to be a nose ahead of his rivals heading into the qualifiers against Bangladesh and Palestine, with Hibernian’s Miller running a close second.

With both Strain, 26, and Miller, 23, included in Arnold’s latest squad, it’s the former who’s expected to start against Bangladesh in Melbourne on Thursday.

Strain, who has four caps, started against England in October, and had the chance to put his name up in lights with Australia’s best opportunity of the game as they were eclipsed 1-0.

His effort was cleared off the line by Lewis Dunk, with the attack-minded wide man telling FTBL: “It was a good chance and I probably should have scored but overall I’m happy with how everything is going and hopefully I’ll get some more minutes with the national team in this camp.

“There’s great competition for places and that’s healthy because it pushes you more.

“I’m happy with my form - I think it’s just following on from last season and it’s helped that my club are going well in the league. 

“We’re sitting third on the table and two of the three games we’ve lost were against Celtic and Rangers.

“I’ve got the freedom to get forward - that’s my game really, just getting up and down.”

Unlucky to miss the cut for the 2022 World Cup, Strain has put the disappointment to bed.

“I won’t lie I was gutted to miss out because playing at a World Cup is everybody’s dream,” he admitted.

“But you can’t dwell on things. The boss has only a certain amount of players he can pick and at that time he thought that was his best team.

“Hopefully I can change that - not just get selected for camps but I want to start as well because I think I can bring something to the team.”

Strain, who is off contract at the end of the season, has aspirations to ultimately move to a bigger stage.

“Obviously this is my last year at St Mirren contract wise, and whilst I love it here you always want to play at the highest level possible," he said.

“I just need to keep my head down, keep working and hopefully I can test myself and see how high I can go.

“All the options are open - it’s really where football takes me. But, I’m really just focusing on what I’m doing at St Mirren at the moment. And if my performances justify it then you never what can happen.”