Scottish Football Tips: Kai Watson's SPFL Bets, December 13
It is the final of the Scottish League Cup on Sunday, but there is still plenty of league action this weekend across the leagues.
Kai Watson, our Free Bets Scottish football expert, is back with his top betting tips and weekend predictions for the best of the action.
Scottish Football Tips
Here are Kai's five top football betting tips for the weekend, including the best available odds from the top UK sports betting sites.
Dundee United vs Motherwell - Motherwell to win
Motherwell’s style and performances under Jens Berthel Askou have probably been the surprise of the season so far in the Scottish Premiership. The ‘Well find themselves third in the table when many of their fans may have been expecting a relegation battle or, at best, challenging to make it into the top six.
They had previously been playing really well in games, particularly in the first half, but just couldn’t get results, the 2-1 defeat at home to Falkirk being a prime example of that. However, in the last five games, only Celtic have bettered their form and they have the exact same last five form as Rangers, who they are level on points with although the ‘Gers have a game in hand.
Back to Motherwell though, for me, they have been the best team to watch in the league this season, by a distance. They play the ball out from the back, their players all have the confidence to take the ball in and have the freedom to express themselves on it. When it’s working and they are on top form, it’s honestly a joy to watch and not something anyone in Scotland expected.
Tawanda Maswanhise has been a revelation on the wing and is the league's joint top scorer, Elijah Just, Elliot Watt and Lukas Fadinger have all been very impressive from midfield positions and they have the fourth best defence in the league only behind Celtic, Hearts and Rangers.
Motherwell hammered Livingston last time out and have only conceded one in their last five whilst scoring eight. Pressure is mounting on Jim Goodwin though as they haven’t won a game since October 25th and have only won once in their last ten, a far cry from their start to the season.
I think Motherwell will take advantage of Dundee United’s lack of confidence and win comfortably.
Livingston vs Dundee - Both teams to score
I don’t predict this one to be a game of the season contender, however, we’re looking at two sides that have the joint second worst defensive records in the whole league, with only Kilmarnock conceding more goals this season.
Livingston haven’t won since the second game of the season on 9th August against Falkirk. Dundee have had a strange season, they looked good at Ibrox and were unlucky not to come away with a win then comfortably beat Celtic 2-0 at Dens Park. They haven’t been able to string any kind of form together though and even after an impressive 3-1 win against St. Mirren they then lost their next two against Celtic, expectedly, then put in a terrible performance in a 3-1 home defeat against Aberdeen.
Neither side can defend and both really need the win, so although I don’t expect the quality to be high, I think they’ll struggle to keep each other out.
Falkirk vs Hearts - Hearts to win
Hearts had a wobble recently and had only won one in six before heading to Parkhead next week with their fans fearing for the worst in terms of their title challenge. It was Wilfried Nancy’s first game in charge and the mood was high given Celtic were the league’s form side.
That didn’t matter to Hearts though, even after a strong start from the home side and Daizen Maeda passing up two really good opportunities, Derek McInnes’ side took the lead not long before half time. The man with the best chant in Scottish football, maybe even the world, Claudi Braga gave them the lead before Oisin McEntee doubled the lead from a corner and Celtic could only conjure up an injury-time consolation goal via Kieran Tierney to ensure Hearts stayed top.
They need to keep winning though and can’t fall back into the form they slipped into before last weekend. They could go six points clear on Saturday evening and even though Celtic would have two games in hand, it would put massive pressure on them for their upcoming games.
Arbroath vs Partick - Partick to win
There’s a massive game in the Championship on Friday night when Ayr host St. Johnstone which could really shake up the top of the league. Currently Partick are joint top with St. Johnstone and Arbroath sit in third but an Ayr win would take them above The Red Litchies.
So, no matter what happens on Friday evening, this is a huge game in terms of the title/play-off race. Partick need to keep winning to put the pressure on Simo Valakari’s side and they’ve been in brilliant form, only conceding two and scoring nine in their last five whilst winning three and drawing two of those fixtures.
Arbroath had a great victory away to Dunfermline last time out and have been the surprise package of the league this season, however, I just think Mark Wilson’s side will be too strong for them on Saturday.
Alloa vs Queen of the South - Alloa to win
This has the potential to be a brilliant game, Queen of the South climbed up the table before hitting a sticky patch and Alloa have been excellent in recent weeks and are putting pressure on Inverness at the top of the league.
The home side are unbeaten in the last five, winning three and drawing two. Not only that but they have only conceded one goal in those games which now gives them the joint best defensive record in the league, tied with the league leaders.
They aren’t just good defensively though, they’ve started scoring plenty of goals and have scored twelve in the last five, having previously only scored ten goals in the eleven games before that! They’re currently two points behind Inverness and could take advantage of Queen of the South not winning in their last three, which includes a 4-0 hammering against Inverness.
The home advantage and form going into this one make Alloa heavy favourites for me and I’m surprised the odds aren’t even longer than what they are.
More Football Tips
Explore our expert football betting tips for this weekend's top matches.
From in-depth form guides to key betting insights, we've got you covered with thoroughly researched picks.
