Scottish Football Tips: Kai Watson's Best Bets, January 16 & January 17
The Scottish Cup takes centre stage this weekend, and Kai Watson, our Free Bets Scottish football expert, is back looking at five games north of the border.
Scottish Football Tips
Here are Kai's five best football betting tips for the weekend, complete with the best prices available at the top UK betting sites.
Rangers vs Annan Athletic - Both teams to score - No
I’m not going to lie, I’m really surprised by these odds. No disrespect to Anna but the reality is that they are currently seventh in League Two and they’ve only recently climbed into that position. If it wasn’t for Dumbarton and Edinburgh City being deducted points, they would currently be sitting in ninth. They also haven’t played a match since December 27th so I’m really surprised that many bookies think they have a chance at scoring a goal on Friday night.
It’s not like they are free-scoring in League Two, worse than that, they are actually the lowest scorers in the league! Their top scorer is Aidan Smith who has six in the league and they still heavily rely on player-manager Wullie Gibson for creativity.
Since Danny Rohl arrived, Rangers have only conceded nine goals in fourteen league matches when previously they had conceded eight in eight under Russell Martin. The football might not always be overly entertaining but one thing the young German manager has done has sorted out the majority of Rangers defensive issues.
They now look much more solid at the back and have only conceded two in the last five while keeping two clean sheets in the last two matches. Since the defeat against Hearts, Rangers have won every league game (5) and look much more comfortable at the back. They have also scored ten in the same timeframe.
Given Annan’s attacking struggles and Rangers having the joint best defence in the Scottish Premiership, as I previously mentioned, I’m shocked at these odds!
This is an absolute banker for me.
Airdrie vs Arbroath - Arbroath to win
An all Championship clash in this one and it should be an interesting game. Arbroath have been a favourite tip of mine this season because they are almost always decent odds, I think the bookmakers are just expecting them to collapse at some point.
That hasn’t happened though and they currently sit third in the league, seven points ahead of fourth placed Ayr, although they have a game in hand. Given Partick’s recent dip in form they actually find themselves just four points off of second and their only defeat in the last five was against runaway leaders St. Johnstone.
Airdrie haven’t won in four and have drawn the last three, the first of the draws actually being a 1-1 draw against Saturday’s opponents. They’ve seen a slight upturn in form considering, for a while, it looked like they were destined to finish bottom of the league, by a distance.
They now sit in eight but Queen’s Park are only two points behind with three games in hand and Ross County are four behind with two games in hand. Aaron Taylor-Sinclair recently got the job permanently but he needs to turn those draws into wins if they want to stay in the Championship.
The only thing that could make this Arbroath season even better is surely a cup run and I think a victory on Saturday will be the beginning of that.
Dundee United vs Ayr United - Dundee United to win
Dundee United need some confidence, they NEED a win. They’ve only won twice in their last thirteen Scottish Premiership fixtures. They’ve also only won once in their last five and that was against bottom of the table Livingston.
They were absolutely hammered at Celtic Park last week and barely touched the ball in a 4-0 hammering, the week before that they were defeated 1-0 by rivals Dundee at Tannadice. It’s been a really bad run in which they are struggling on both ends of the pitch so this game could represent a chance to get back on track and build some confidence.
Ayr have also only won once in the last five and have struggled at both ends. Scott Brown probably expected his side to kick on from their third place finish last season but they currently sit in fourth, just three points ahead of Dunfermline who have a game in hand.
With the need for a win so prominent and the match being played at Tannadice, I don’t foresee their being a cup upset in this one.
Partick vs Montrose - Both teams to score - No
Partick have hit a bad run of form, only winning one in their last five domestic matches which includes a 2-0 defeat at bottom of the table Ross County last Friday. They’ve been struggling on the defensive end but still looked decent going forward, until last weekend.
Mark Wilson will be hoping that they can use this match as a chance to reset and get back to basics. Montrose have the third worst defensive record and are the fourth lowest scorers in League One whilst sitting in eight place. They have won four of their last five, including beating Inverness last time out, but this is a different level of opposition.
They are still statistically one of the weakest clubs in League One and I think Partick will take full advantage of that. I think they will come out all guns blazing and I don’t think Montrose will even manage many shots at goal, never mind scoring one.
Camelon Juniors vs Elgin City - Camelon to win
There’s always a shock isn’t there? Elgin had a quality summer transfer window and I thought they would be doing much better in League Two but currently they sit in eight having lost their last three.
They would actually be bottom if it wasn’t for Dumbarton and Edinburgh City’s point deductions. Camelon, on the other hand, are having a good season and if they win their three games in hand will go joint top of the Premier Division with Hill of Beath. They’ve scored 45 goals in 15 matches and I feel Elgin may struggle to keep them out.
There’s a few sticky fixtures that are potential banana skins but this is the one that I’m picking out, I think Camelon will advance to the next round!.
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