Scottish Football Tips: Kai Watson's SPFL Bets, December 20
It's the final weekend of Scottish football before Christmas, with a packed schedule of eye-catching clashes for punters to enjoy.
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 standout football betting tips for the weekend, complete with the best prices available across the top UK betting sites.
Dundee United vs Hibs - Both teams to score
Hibs lost 1-0 at Ibrox to Rangers on Monday evening but I don’t think David Gray will be too disheartened by their performance. They didn’t give up many clear cut chances and at times caused Rangers problems defensively. They just haven’t been able to find the consistency that had them flying last season.
They have drawn as many games as they have won but still find themselves in fifth, although they are level on points with Aberdeen who have a game in hand. Hearts are the only team to have scored more goals than them this season which is a huge positive to take into a busy festive period.
Dundee United on the other hand have been in absolute freefall having started the season well. Jim Goodwin’s side haven’t won since October 25th which spans seven games with no victory just in the league. They are now sitting eight in the table having only won three games all season and are only three points ahead of St. Mirren who have a game in hand.
I’m writing this before Dundee United host Celtic on Wednesday evening so a positive result there could change everything in terms of their season.
The fact that Hibs have been free scoring and Dundee United have quality up front, I think there will be goals in this one, on both ends!
Motherwell vs Dundee - Motherwell to win
Motherwell will be disappointed with their 0-0 draw against Dundee United at Tannadice, although many would see that as a good result. Jens Berthel Askou has the Steelmen playing some exhilarating football but it’s only recently that the results have managed to match those performances.
Dropping points last week means that if Aberdeen win their game in hand they will be level on points with Motherwell who are also only three points clear of Hibs.
So that makes this one a must win for the home side if they want to remain in the top half and challenging for the European spots.
Dundee are in a really difficult spot, they can’t find any kind of consistency and are lucky that Livingston and Killie have been even worse than them.
They started last week really well and were 2-0 up in the first half against fellow relegation candidates Livi. They then absolutely collapsed after a great first half performance and ended up drawing the match 2-2 leaving them just one point above Killie in the relegation play-off spot.
Everything from the table to the form guide suggests that this should be an easy win for Motherwell. After having watched them a lot also, I can’t see anything other than exactly that.
A win in this one would also mean they leapfrog Rangers but Danny Röhl’s side would have two games in hand.
St Mirren vs Livingston - Both teams to score
League Cup winners St. Mirren had an incredible day last Sunday but their league form has been disappointing so far. They sit ninth, just two points away from the relegation playoff spot and have struggled to score goals.
Despite the three they scored at Hampden, they’re currently the lowest scorers in the Scottish Premiership with just fourteen in fifteen games. However, they have the best defensive record of the bottom six clubs.
Stephen Robinson will be hoping that the cup win will spur his team on to improve their position in the coming weeks.
Livingston have struggled massively this season and haven’t won since the second game of the campaign.
They did have a brilliant comeback last weekend against Dundee after being 2-0 down at half-time but still just came away with a point. The pressure is mounting on David Martindale to start getting wins or they could be facing heading straight back down to the Championship.
Livi have the joint second worst defensive record in the league so even though St. Mirren have struggled for goals, they do have capable players up the top of the pitch.
The same goes for Livingston as Jeremy Bokila has scored five goals from just eleven shots, which is incredible!
Both sides want to start moving up the table so this will be an interesting game.
Ross County vs Arbroath - Arbroath to win
This could be an interesting one as Arbroath Co-manager David Gold has been linked with the vacant Ross County role. His current side have been performing well above expectations and currently sit third in the table, five points ahead of fourth placed Ayr United.
Their last two wins have been really impressive, firstly away to Dunfermline and then beating title challengers Partick Thistle last weekend.
Ross County, despite how much they’ve spent and the experience in the team, are as far away from title contenders as possible as they sit rock bottom. They’ve only won two games this season when they were heavy favourites before a ball was kicked.
They’re currently looking for their third permanent manager of the season and, on paper, this should be a comfortable win for Arbroath.
Hamilton vs Alloa - Under 2.5 goals
Alloa have been flying this season and sit second in the table currently. They don’t score a lot but also don’t concede a lot and have the second best defensive record in the league.
Hamilton are in further turmoil with an extra point deduction that has dragged them down to seventh place. Without the point deduction they would be joint second with their opponents this weekend.
I think this will be a cagey affair and with Alloa’s strong defensive record I don’t see them conceding much, if at all in this game.
Hamilton have the fourth best defensive record in the league and are the joint top scorers but with how good Alloa are defensively I think they will cancel each other out.
Hamilton will be trying to climb up the table and Alloa will want to put pressure on Inverness so I can see this being a 1-0 either way.
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