Scottish Football Tips: Kai Watson's Best Bets, April 11
It’s another busy week of Scottish football as the season edges towards its decisive run-in.
Our Free Bets Scottish football expert, Kai Watson, runs the rule over five matches north of the border.
Scottish Football Tips
Here are Kai's five top football betting tips for the weekend, featuring the best odds from UK betting sites to help you get maximum value on your bets.
Aberdeen vs Hibernian - Hibernian to win
It’s fair to say the appointment of Stephen Robinson hasn’t gone exactly as the Aberdeen board or their fans predicted. His first game in charge they actually got a decent result, holding Falkirk to a 1-1 draw at Pittodrie, the following two games have been pretty dire though.
That draw was followed up by a 4-1 hammering at Ibrox, which could have been more and Rangers gifted Aberdeen the goal that they scored. Then last week, the Dons manager went back to the club that he had just left and the result may have him regretting the choice that he made.
Aberdeen were really poor at the SMISA stadium and finished the game with no big chances created or shots on target. Goals from Jonah Ayunga and Alex Gogic secured a 2-0 win and a very unhappy return to Paisley for Robinson.
After an excellent win at Celtic Park, Hibs followed it up with disappointing draws against Dundee and Livingston before getting an impressive point at Fir Park to keep them within touching distance of Motherwell in fourth. Last week they were clinical against Kilmarnock, three big chances created and three goals scored, with zero conceded.
Hibs are unbeaten since the 1-0 derby defeat at Tynecastle and now find themselves just three points behind Motherwell after Jens Berthel Askou’s sides wobble in recent weeks. If David Gray’s men can carry on their form then they have a real chance to finish in fourth whilst they have been a side barely getting any plaudits.
Now is the true test of how good they are and I think they’ll win comfortably at Pittodrie on Saturday.
Hearts vs Motherwell - Both teams to score
This is a massive match in terms of the title race and the race for fourth place. Hearts away form has been incredibly disappointing but at home they have managed to continually grind out 1-0 wins to keep them at the top of the table.
They currently sit one point clear of Rangers but still three clear of Celtic who sit in third. They need to keep winning games, especially the ones at home and this one before the split is so crucial, especially in terms of taking momentum into the last five games of the season.
Motherwell haven’t won in the last four games and are now in a real battle for fourth with Hibs cutting down the gap to just three points. If Motherwell don’t start winning games again there’s a chance that their really impressive season ends with a whimper having been praised thoroughly throughout the season.
There’s huge pressure on both teams in this one and it can have massive repercussions in terms of the title race. The last time Motherwell were at Tynecastle they were 3-0 up at half-time, however the league leaders fought back and managed to rescue a 3-3 draw, perhaps the first sign that they had the mentality to be a genuine contender.
Hearts need to win and will be aggressive on and off the ball, Motherwell have the ability to play around that. I don’t expect it to be a massively open game but I do think that both sides will have plenty of chances.
A high pressure game and one that fans of the rest of the top five will have a keen eye on throughout!
Dundee United vs Livingston - Dundee United to win
Although Livingston have been better under Marvin Bartley, they still haven’t won since August and have drawn four out of the last five. That does include draws with the top two but both of those were at home and the last time they were away they lost 2-0, convincingly, to relegation rivals Kilmarnock.
Jim Goodwin just won manager of the month for March, in that month he managed an impressive 2-0 home win against Celtic, a 2-1 win against St. Mirren and a 2-2 draw in the derby. They managed to go to Ibrox and score twice, for the second game in a row, but this time they were defeated 4-2 and it probably should have been more.
They are scoring goals and with how bad Livingston have been away from home I can’t see anything other than a comfortable home victory.
Partick vs Dunfermline - Both teams to score
Dunfermline have hit some excellent form at exactly the right time of the season and also have a Scottish Cup Semi-Final to look forward to next week! In their last five matches they have scored 14 goals, only conceded three and won four of those games, only dropping points, surprisingly, to bottom side Ross County. They were 2-0 down in that game though so they’re showing great fighting spirit, even when dropping points.
Partick drawing with Ayr United last week meant they fell further behind league leaders St. Johnstone and the gap is now five points with four games to go. They need to keep winning to keep the pressure on and even if they don’t win the league, they’ll want to carry positive momentum going into the play-offs.
Dunfermline’s play-off place is all but secured but they’ll also want to carry positive momentum into the post-season and Partick would be their semi-final opponents if the table stays the same.
Both teams are in good form and both will want the win, this could be a cracker at Firhill!
Ayr United vs Arbroath - Arbroath to win
Ayr United are in absolute freefall, Scott Brown is gone and they haven’t won in their last five games, they have also been beaten 3-0 in two of the last three games to Raith and Dunfermline respectively.
From being clear of Dunfermline, Arbroath are now only one point clear having played a game more, like the previous two teams mentioned, they will want to carry positive form going into the play-offs.
They have lost the last two but will want to turn that around and I can’t see this Ayr side, who are incredibly short on confidence, managing anything other than a defeat at Somerset Park.
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