Scottish Football Tips: Kai Watson's 23/1 SPFL Acca
It's a packed weekend of Scottish football, with a full round of league fixtures taking centre stage north of the border.
Kai Watson, our Free Bets Scottish football expert, shares his top SPFL betting tips and weekend predictions for all the key matches.
Scottish Football Tips
Here are Kai's top five football tips for the weekend, featuring the best prices and latest odds from the leading UK betting sites.
We've put them together to form this weekend's 23/1 Scottish Football Acca.
St Mirren vs Hibernian - Both teams to score
St. Mirren were absolutely brilliant at Hampden last week, even if the first goal they scored was a controversial one. Stephen Robinson got his tactics bang on against a Motherwell side that a lot of pundits had been praising for their style.
However, the Northern Irishman’s side don’t only play direct, long ball football (although they do at times) but they can play some really attractive stuff at times, particularly around the box. I’m a massive fan of the midfield they have built with Baccus returning to play with O’Hara and summer signing Killian Phillips.
They are aggressive, hard working and keen to get the ball forward which, at times, is a joy to watch and they have goals coming from all over the pitch.
Side note - Should Mandron be considered for Scotland?
Despite having an inconsistent start to the season, Hibs currently sit in third, even though they’ve played one game more than Rangers who they’re level with. Although he’s taken time to get involved, record signing Thibault Klidje has been incredible in the last few games and early signs suggest that he could be worth the fee paid.
On paper, this could be a cracker and it’s a late kick off live on Premier Sports, so tune in!
Falkirk vs Livingston - Over 2.5 goals
Believe it or not, the last time that Falkirk beat Livingston in a league game was in December 2015 which was twelve games ago! In those twelve, the Bairns have only managed to avoid defeat four times which is an incredible record given that both sides, historically, tend to be playing and operating at a similar level.
The first meeting of the season was in Livingston and the home side ended up walking away 3-1 winners. It followed the pattern of most of their previous meetings, particularly last season, in that Falkirk controlled the possession but couldn’t convert that into goals, whereas Livi were concise and effective in front of goal.
The two Premiership Saturday matches have potential to be brilliant games and I think both sides will go for it in Falkirk. Will it finally be time for the tides to turn in this fixture? Can John McGlynn figure out how to beat David Martindale?
Neither side have been great defensively this season with the two highest amounts for goals conceded in eleven matches so far, Livingston conceding 22 and Falkirk 20 thus far.
That makes me think there will be goals in this one, two teams going for it, one with a brilliant track record in this fixture and one who will be looking to turn the tide and stop the rot!
Morton vs Arbroath - Arbroath to win
I feel like I talk about Arbroath a lot but no wonder! No one was predicting them to do this well at the start of the season and David Gold and Colin Hamilton’s side sit third in the Scottish Championship.
In two of their last three they have beaten the pre-season favourites for the title when they beat St. Johnstone 3-1 before beating Ross County 3-0 last week, mightily impressive considering they only got promoted last season.
Could they do a Falkirk?
Morton, on the other hand, have only won one game this season and drawn NINE of thirteen matches so far. They’ve also only scored eleven so far, averaging less than a goal a game and really struggling to find a way to turn those draws into wins.
There’s been a few instances when Dougie Imrie has thought referee decisions have played a part in them not being able to win games, which could be true but there are other factors at play.
They’re averaging less than a goal a game and conceding more than a goal a game, not scoring enough and conceding too many won’t keep you in the Championship for long.
Stenhousemuir vs Kelty Hearts - Stenhousemuir to win
Despite drawing their last two matches, Stenhousemuir are still on a great run. They now sit one point behind Inverness after those draws but have only lost one game since the beginning of August.
They haven’t been free scoring but their defensive record is excellent with only Inverness and Alloa conceding less so far.
They really need to get back to winning ways and this could be a perfect game to do it.
Kelty currently sit second bottom of the table and have lost nine of their twelve matches so far, only winning two. They’re struggling to score goals but are also conceding way too many, a dangerous combination, as they have the worst defensive record in the league, conceding 25 so far.
They’ve recently brought in ex-manager Michael Tidser to be Tam O’Ware’s assistant and will be hoping he can bring back the form Kelty were under when he was in charge.
Forfar vs Spartans - Spartans to win
I have no idea why the odds are so short on this one. Spartans currently sit six points clear at the top of League Two having beaten East Kilbride last week, for the second week in a row.
They had a couple of stumbles recently against Stirling Albion and Edinburgh City but outside of that they’ve won every game bar an early August defeat against Dumbarton.
They have the second best defensive record in the league and are the third top scorers, Dougie Samuel is doing an incredible job and is the long serving manager in Scotland!
Forfar though, they sit mid-table and lost to a Stranraer side that had been struggling previously. They haven’t won a league game since 20th September and are lucky the sides around them have been struggling too!
I’m predicting a comfortable win for Spartans here and for Forfar to continue their descent down towards Edinburgh City at the bottom of the pile.
More Football Tips
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