Scottish Premiership: The Relegation Dog Fight
Kai Watson 
We've hit the point of the season in the Scottish Premiership where the table splits into two, leaving the bottom six to battle it out for the relegation places.
St Johnstone are currently favourites to finish bottom and get relegated, but fixtures might work in their favour between now and the end of the season.
Our resident Scottish football tips expert, Kai Watson, has had a closer look at the race for the top six ahead of a big weekend in the Scottish Premiership.
The final match day before the Scottish Premiership split was full of drama. On Saturday there were two games which would determine the fate of who got that crucial last top six spot. At this point in the season, that team would be unlikely to move any further up the table.
However, finishing in the top half would make them safe from relegation. With how tight it was from sixth to eleventh, whoever finished in the bottom half would become part of a fight to stay in the league.
With St. Johnstone looking likely to finish bottom of the table, the other five teams will be competing to stay out of that relegation play-off spot.
I think the team that will be most disappointed is Hearts, their fans haven’t taken finishing in the bottom six very well on social media.
They have, by far, the biggest budget of the bottom six sides and, on paper, the best squad so it’s easy to see why the fans were so upset about the result against Motherwell. Especially since they had their fate in their own hands on the day.
How is the table looking now though? Well, St. Johnstone sit bottom, five points behind Dundee who are currently the eleventh placed side. From there though, there’s only six points from Dundee to Hearts who are currently in seventh. Hearts and Motherwell currently sit on 40 and 39 points respectively so they seem the least likely to be dragged into the relegation battle.
Four points behind Motherwell you have Kilmarnock in ninth on 35 points, level with Ross County in tenth and Dundee just one point further back in eleventh with 34 points. One point separates the three aforementioned teams and with them all to play each other, anything could happen at this point.
In the first round of fixtures, beginning the 26th April, Dundee travel to Tynecastle to face Hearts in what is probably the toughest fixture for any side to have in the bottom half. That being said, Kilmarnock actually have the fifth best home record in the entire league, so maybe those home fixtures could save Killie this season.
Further to that, Derek McInness’ side actually have the worst away record in the Scottish Premiership, only winning 2 of 17 away fixtures so far this season. They have to travel away to St. Johnstone and Motherwell but fortunately have Dundee, Hearts and Ross County at home.
Dundee arguably landed with the toughest set of fixtures as they have to travel to Rugby Park and Tynecastle, on paper, the two toughest away grounds in the bottom six this season. That could be their downfall and makes their home games even more vital.
All it takes is St. Johnstone to pick up a win and everyone else is instantly under pressure. They’ve been much improved under Simo Valakari but were unfortunately already so far behind.
Can he inspire a great escape for the Perth based side? Does he have the players at his disposal to band together, grind out results and force another club into the bottom and only automatic relegation spot?
It’s really a case of wait and see but now, more than ever, every point counts and it’ll be an intense end to the season at the bottom of the table.
Who are your favourites to finish in the bottom two?
Scottish Premiership Relegation Odds
We've heard what Kai thinks, but who are the favourites with sports betting sites to go down?
