Scottish Premiership Preview, Betting Tips and Odds | Week 8
After a 2-0 win at Ibrox in the Old Firm derby it would have been difficult for Celtic fans to have been feeling any better this week, but after a flawless performance against Anderlecht the Bhoys’ faithful will be heading into the clash with Hibernians grinning from ear-to-ear. Brendan Rodgers’ side flew the flag for Scottish football in Belgium, downing Anderlecht with goals from Leigh Griffiths, Patrick Roberts and Scott Sinclair. This weekend they welcome back former manager Neil Lennon, can the Northern Irishman cause an upset on familiar territory? Jim Delahunt thinks there may be a chance as he provides his expert tips, exclusively for Betsafe.
Motherwell v Partick Thistle
Backing the Steelmen at home has been a pretty good policy this season and they’re worth supporting again this weekend despite losing out narrowly to Aberdeen at Fir Park last Sunday.
Remember that defeat came just a few days after ‘Well had dumped the Dons out of the League Cup and Aberdeen will have been fired up to get back to winning form and keep tabs on Celtic at the top.
Motherwell start their latest game at home to Partick Thistle as 21/20 favourites at Betsafe with Thistle available at 12/5 after a valuable point was gathered at home to Hearts last weekend.
It could be Alan Archibald’s side is on the upgrade and starting to get the results some of their performances have deserved but it’s still going to be tough down in the bottom 4 and Motherwell appear intent on leaving that part of the Premiership well behind.
Stephen Robinson’s players are building up quite a rapport with their home fans and another victory can only improve matters further.
I doubt it will be easy after the Jags got another wee lift last week but Fir Park can prove key to Motherwell’s league progress once again and I’m quite happy with slightly better than Evens about another home win.
Motherwell faced an Aberdeen side playing with extra vigour on Sunday after the 3-0 Cup defeat and while Thistle should be just as pumped, the home win remains the value.
Partick’s home point with Hearts was a good one last week after they’d also drawn with Rangers and lost narrowly to Celtic and Aberdeen but I suspect it would be a mistake to think this weekend’s fixture is any easier.
Celtic v Hibernian
These two have a League Cup semi-final against each other to look forward to at Hampden but the intrigue of Neil Lennon going back to Celtic Park as Hibs boss gives this game enough spice to keep us going in the meantime.
Celtic were fantastic against Anderlecht and it’s obvious why they’re 1/5 favourites to win again but no-one knows better than Lennon outside of the club what it’s like coming back down to earth after a European high.
Hibs and Scotland midfielder John McGinn spoke midweek about giving the champions “a nosebleed” but he’ll need 10 and more colleagues of the same mind to make it happen after what Celtic did to Anderlecht.
McGinn believes Hibs’ players to be full of confidence and disappointed not to be further up the table after a 7 games start which has seen them lose only once, to Hamilton Accies.
There’s talk of “going here and having a real go” in the dressing room but I feel HIbs’ priority will be one of containment and I’ve had a sneaky feeling about the draw since before Celtic’s trip to Belgium.
Hibs are 21/2 to get the win but half that price at 21/4 seems decent value to me given the Lennon factor and Celtic coming off the back of a massive high.
No-one’s going to blink twice if Celtic record a routine victory but I’ve always gone for a price I see as being realistic and value and this ticks both boxes.
Hibs could be back in the capital licking their wounds by Saturday night but if St Johnstone can take something from Celtic Park so early in the season, I don’t honestly know why Hibs can’t.
Aberdeen v St Johnstone
The gap between Scotland’s big two in the Premiership is only 2 points and Aberdeen can keep well within shouting distance of Celtic by beating an in-form St Johnstone side at Pittodrie.
Aberdeen have a 3 points stretch on the Perth Saints going into this one and the match gives them a chance to push that to 6 as Hibs try to do some damage to Brendan Rogers’ champions and league leaders at Celtic Park.
Betsafe have Aberdeen at 8/15 for this one and that strikes me as being fair given the way Derek McInnes’ side bounced back from their cup exit to take revenge on Motherwell.
The draw price is 3/1 with St Johnstone at 24/5 and while it never makes sense to rule this St Johnstone group out of any match they play, I strongly fancy Aberdeen this week and have sided with them accordingly.
If I was a Dons fan this week, I’d worry less about St Johnstone than of Rangers coming calling for their manager as events in Glasgow have cast further doubt over Pedro Caixhina’s future.
Derek McInnes was a target for one section of the Rangers’ hierarchy last time before a cheaper alternative was found and Aberdeen have since put their man on a whopper of a contract after interest from Sunderland.
Fan pressure at Ibrox may yet force Rangers to get McInnes next time though and Aberdeen should keep winning while he’s still there at the 8/15 on offer with Betsafe.
St Johnstone kept their pot boiling with a home win over Hamilton last week and while Wright’s teams have been successful at Pittodrie in the past, there’s a fair chance they’ll still be third best in the country if they lose this one.
Best of the Rest
Hamilton Accies host Rangers in the first match of the Premiership weekend on Friday, after a week of claim and counter-claim as to how friendly Pedro Caixhina’s exchange with his players was at the Rangers training ground in the wake of the latest failure to beat Celtic.
The home side lost 2-1 at St Johnstone last weekend but they weren’t brushed aside in any way and remain on a very healthy 7 points from 7 games for the season with a goal difference of just minus two.
The outcome to this game looks all about Rangers’ reaction to their latest woes and how much the manager’s comments have upset an already fragile looking squad but they’re still 7/15 favourites to get all 3 points here at Betsafe.
Hamilton are more than capable of getting a result on their own pitch but can be backed at 49/10 to win this one and I’d rather go the way I decided on when Rangers visited Partick in the league recently and had to settle for a point.
The stalemate is 17/5 at New Douglas Park and I’ll settle for that to kick-start the weekend.
Owen Coyle is the new manager of Ross County after last week’s sacking of Jim McIntyre and Billy Dodds and the wily, experienced new number 1 in Dingwall could motivate his players to grab a point.
County are actually slight favourites at Rugby Park at 3/2 but Coyle will want to shore things up before pushing on and I doubt Kilmarnock will quibble with anther point after last week’s draw with Dundee.
Hearts go to Dundee in what’s traditionally a pretty raucous fixture and I’ll side with the visitors at 21/20 as Craig Levein tries to steer them into the less choppy waters of a longed for return to Tynecastle after the stadium’s redevelopment.
About Jim Delahunt
Jim Delahunt is a Scottish based TV and Radio sports presenter as well as being a newspaper columnist on football and horse-racing. He’s a former Champions League presenter for ITV in Scotland and is a former amateur jockey. From 1998-2006, he presented what was then the world’s longest running sports programme, Scotsport, on ITV in Scotland. He was later a presenter on Setanta Sports
