Scottish Football Tips: Kai Watson's Best Bets, September 12
It's another action-packed weekend of Scottish football, including the quarter-finals of the Scottish League Cup, and our Free Bets Scottish football expert Kai Watson picks out five fixtures worth watching north of the border.
Scottish Football Tips
Here are Kai's five top football betting tips for the weekend action, featuring the best odds from the top UK betting sites, ensuring you get maximum value on your bets.
Ross County vs Hibs - Hibs to win
Hibs look like they could be in trouble this season. After an opening day defeat to an impressive Motherwell side, they went to Ibrox and scored a late winner to get their first win of the season. They also won the following game against Dundee but it’s gone downhill since.
An utterly toothless first half performance against Hearts led to them going in 2-0 down at halftime and although they improved in the second half, they still lost 3-1 and that first half performance will cause concern amongst the fans.
Then probably the most concerning thing so far this season, a defeat against newly promoted St. Johnstone who then overtook them in the table. Defensively it’s been poor since the start of the season and despite plenty of attacking talent, Hibs don’t look overly threatening going forward.
Ross County were flying up until last weekend, it took a late equaliser to salvage a point against East Fifa last Saturday then it was a 4-3 defeat to Aberdeen during the week.
I just think that Hibs will have too much firepower and David Gray will see this as winnable and the perfect time to start turning their season around.
Airdrie vs Alloa - Alloa to win
Many would have had Airdrie down to be challenging at the top of the table but as of now they currently sit bottom of League One with no wins from six games. They have only managed to score three goals whilst conceding ten, really worrying times for John Rankin.
Alloa have been a mixed bag so far with two wins, three draws and just the one defeat which was a tight 1-0 against high flying Hamilton. They have only conceded three goals so far and look exciting going forward with Kyle Glasgow getting plenty of plaudits so far.
On paper, with how Alloa are playing, this should be an easy win, even away from home and that is exactly how I see it. One side with a good defence and one with an off-form attack, Alloa win this one for me!
Dunfermline vs Queen’s Park - Dunfermline to win
If you didn’t predict Morton to finish bottom of the Championship then you probably had Queen’s Park there. They got their first win of the season last week but it was against struggling Morton having lost three of four prior to that.
Dunfermline haven’t really gotten going yet with one win, three draws and one defeat in their first five matches. They are struggling to score goals with only three in five whilst conceding four but they are creating plenty of chances and it feels like a matter of time before they score a barrel load against someone.
If it was going to happen in any game then this seems like the perfect one. With the amount of attacking quality they have available I don’t see how Queen’s Park can stop them.
Easy home win for me this.
Kilmarnock vs Aberdeen - Both teams to score
Two struggling teams come together with a chance to get into the League Cup Semi-Final, what could go wrong? Both teams have really exciting players in attack but haven’t been able to get them going this season.
Aberdeen could have a potential front three of Yogane - Nisbet - Smith which would contain two of the best ball carrying wingers in the league and one of the best strikers (on his day).
Killie have Tyreece John-Jules and Joe Hugill who were excellent last season but in terms of their attack it just hasn’t clicked yet for Kilmarnock.
Both managers are under pressure after their start to the league campaign so this would be a huge way to alleviate that pressure. With the aforementioned attacking quality available, both teams have also struggled defensively, particularly Killie, I don’t see managing to keep each other out.
The quality may not be high but I expect the goal output to be.
Rangers vs Celtic - Both teams to score
This is always a huge game, especially the first one of the season, but this really feels like a big moment in Derek McInnes’ managerial tenure at Rangers. There have been moments and spells in the last two games where they have looked more organised at the back and dangerous going forward.
However, they still lack that clinical edge, creating ten big chances and having 13 shots on target (44 shots total) whilst only scoring twice. The St. Mirren game was one that could have gone either way, a good first half performance could have seen Rangers go in two or three goals up but went in 0-0 and St. Mirren came into the game in the second half and missed a huge opportunity to go 1-0 up.
If Rangers do the same against Celtic, they won’t be so forgiving in front of goal.
Celtic have scored 14 in six compared to Rangers seven and have won every game so far this season. Kasper Hogh has just returned from injury, Duran is on fire and Hassan looks incredibly dangerous on the wing. Nygren is always a goal threat and Mika Baur has settled in really well to that Hatate role.
Celtic are in the better domestic form going into this one and should be favourites but no away fans being allowed in could have a big impact.
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