Harry Souttar has been named in Graham Arnold's starting XI for the Socceroos clash with Nepal in a World Cup qualifier at Canberra Stadium on Thursday.

Souttar, who has an Australian mother, represented Scotland at under-17 and under-19 levels but pledged his allegiance to the Socceroos earlier this year.

The Scottish-born defender plastered his bedroom walls with Socceroos posters when the national side impressed at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

And now the Scotsman is set to follow in the footsteps of his Australian heroes when he pulls on the green-and-gold jersey at Canberra Stadium.

"It's a great occasion for Harry and for him to do it in Australia, on home soil, is fantastic," Arnold said.

"It's a great moment for Harry because he's lived in the UK his whole life. Even as a kid he had posters in his room of the Socceroos at the 2006 World Cup and those type of things.

"He's been an Australian football fans for all of his junior life."

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Souttar made two appearances for the Olyroos at the AFC Under-23 Championship qualifiers in March.

The England-based defender is the only uncapped player in Arnold's 23-man squad to play Nepal and Chinese Taipei. He was an unused squad member for the Socceroos' opening qualifier against Kuwait.

The Socceroos kicked off their qualifying campaign with a 3-0 win over the Kuwaitis before setting their sights on their first trip to Canberra in four years.

Nepal were thrashed 7-0 by Kuwait in their group opener but rebounded to post a 2-0 win over Taiwan, who are bottom of the group having lost their first two matches.

The Canberra clash will be the first time the Socceroos meet Nepal, who are the lowest-ranked nation of their qualifying group at world No.166.

Arnold wants his side to be merciless against the minnow nation and expects to "expose their weaknesses and nullify their strengths."

"I want us to be ruthless. I want us to play to our expectations and our quality," Arnold said.

"The boys are believing in what we're doing and for me it's not about the team in the opposition dressing room, it's about the team in my dressing room and making sure the attitude is right.

"Everyone would agree, technically, tactically and physically we are probably stronger. But the mental side of it is about attitude and these type of games are all about attitude.

"We know what [Nepal] can do - we know everything - but we focus on ourselves. The way I've worked and always coached, I focus 80 percent on ourselves and 20 percent on the opposition."

Australia have dominated across the pitch but have been short of goals since Arnold took over the national side after the 2018 World Cup.

Arnold wouldn't reveal his starting XI for the Nepal clash, with seven players vying for attacking positions.

Jamie Maclaren, Adam Taggart and Apostolos Giannou will compete to start at striker, while Craig Goodwin, Brandon Borrello, Mathew Leckie and Awer Mabil could also start upfront.

"The three of them give completely different ways we can play, Jamie with his little runs in behind and the way he can read the game, McTaggart with his combination and Giannou is more of a target man and strong in the air," Arnold said.

"I'm very excited about having those players in camp, those players have all different strengths and give us a different way of playing.

"The last camp we had in Dubai we had 10 days, which really gave us the time to work on our attacking patterns and attacking play. It takes time to gel, that's the hardest part. We feel as a team, it has gotten a lot better."

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Australia v Nepal: Thursday, October 10 at Canberra Stadium