Friday 23 December 2011

SPL Team News - Christmas Eve matches

Inverness CT v Aberdeen (KO 12.30pm)

Inverness CT

Injuries - Doran, Chippendale, Meekings, Proctor, Tudur Jones, Hogg
Available Squad - Esson, Gillet, Tokely, Golobart, Graeme Shinnie, Cox, Hayes, Davis, Tansey, Andrew Shinnie, Tade, McKay, Sutherland, Tuffey, Piermayr, Ross, Morrison

Possible XI - Esson, Piermayr, Tokely, Golobart, G Shinnie, Davies, Tansey, Foran, A Shinnie, Hayes, Tade (4-4-1-1)


Aberdeen

Injuries - Folly, Chalali
Suspended - Pawlett
Doubtful - Fallon
Available Squad Gonzalez, Mawene, Clark, Mackie, Magennis, Megginson, Brown, McArdle, Foster, Milsom, Arnason, Osbourne, Fyvie , Jack, Vernon, Fallon
Possible XI - Brown, Foster Mawene, Considine, Osbourne, Milsom, Jack, Fyvie, Arnason, Vernon, Fallon (4-4-2)

Prediction - Inverness 2-1 Aberdeen


Inverness generally don't do very well in this fixture and for me Aberdeen are getting marginally better as the season goes on (mind you they couldn't get any worse...) but if Inverness can play the same way as they played at Ibrox last week they will win with ease, still don't know how they didn't score a 2nd in Glasgow. Inverness DNB @ 1.75 (Boylesport)


__________________________________________________


St Mirren v Rangers (KO 12.45pm)

St Mirren

Injuries - None
Suspended - Goodwin
Available Squad - Samson, van Zanten, McAusland, Barron, Tesselaar, Carey, Teale, McLean, Thompson, McGowan, Hasselbaink, Mooy, Haddad, Smith, McKee, Murray, McShane, Thomson, Mair

Possible XI - Samson, Van Zanten, Mair, McAusland, Tesselaar, McGowan, McLean, Mooy, Teale, Thompson, Hasselbaink (4-4-2)


Rangers

Injuries - Weir, Naismith
Available Squad - McGregor, Whittaker, Papac, Bendiksen, Bocanegra, Wallace, Bartley, Davis, Edu, McCulloch, Wylde, Bedoya, Lafferty, Jelavic, Broadfoot, Alexander, McCabe, Aluko, Goian

Possible XI - McGregor, Whittaker, Goian, Bocanegra, Wallace, Aluko, McCulloch, Davies, Wylde, Lafferty, Jelavic (4-4-2)

Prediction -  St Mirren 0-2 Rangers

Rangers have Aluko back from suspension and I reckon he is the man that can make the difference similar to the job Naismith did before his injury. Rangers are very solid at the back and have only let in 2 away goals all season (9 in total) so I think the 2.3 (Paddy Power) on offer for Only Rangers to Score is a gift from Santa............



__________________________________________________

Hearts v Motherwell (KO 1pm)

Hearts

Injuries - Grainger, Kyle, Barr, Glen, Santana
Walked out on Club -  Stevenson , Jonsson, Driver (all wont play)
Available Squad - Kello, Hamill, Webster, Zaliukas, Mrowiec, Jonsson, Driver, Taouil, Templeton, Robinson, Skacel, Novikovas, Elliott, MacDonald, Obua, MacDonald, McGowan, Black

Possible XI - Kello, Hamill, Webster, Zaliukas, McGowan, Templeton, Black, Mrowiec, Robinson, Taouil, Elliott (4-4-1-1)


Motherwell

Injuries - Saunders
Suspended - Jennings
Available Squad - Randolph, Hateley, Hammell, Craigan, Hutchinson, Hughes, Lasley, Law, Daley, Murphy, Higdon, Humphrey, Forbes, Carswell, Page, McHugh, Clancy, Bradley

Possible XI - Randolph, Hateley, Hutchison, Craigan, Hammell, Humphrey, Lasley, Law, Hughes, Higdon, Murphy (4-4-2)

Prediction - Hearts 1-2 Motherwel
l

I could talk about the shambles of my poor Hearts team all day but I think the current events with Jonsson transfering and Stevenson walking out and Driver basically saying he is leaving also really has to affect the teams morale and performance. As the Motherwell manager says Hearts may be dangerous as players will be wanting to put themselves in the shop window for a January transfer. Hearts played great last week but that was against a terrible Dunfermline side. Motherwell are a cracking side that play great football and strangely get some of their best results away from home.

Motherwell's away record is great (7W 1D 1W)

Given all that is happening at Tynecastle I think it is a great spot to take an away win @ 3.5 (bet365) or take the Motherwell DNB @ 2.63 (Betfred) for a bit of saftey.



__________________________________________________

Celtic v Kilmarnock (KO 1.30pm)

Celtic

Injuries - Majstorovic, Commons, Matthews, Loovens
Doubful -Stokes
Available Squad - Forster, Cha, Izaguirre, McCourt, Ledley, Rogne, Mulgrew, Wanyama, Ki, Brown, Forrest, Kayal, McGeouch, Hooper, Bangura, Samaras, Stokes, Zaluska, Kelvin Wilson, Blackman, Twardzik

Possible XI - Forster, Cha, Wanyama, Rogne, Mulgrew, Kayal, Brown, Forrest, Ledley, Samaras, Hooper (4-4-2)


Kilmarnock

Injuries - Gros, O'Leary
Doubtful - Shiels
Available Squad - Bell, Pursehouse, McKeown, Pascali, Kroca, Sissoko, Hay, Harkins, Shiels, Dayton, Silva, Kelly, Heffernan, Kennedy, Fisher, Buijs, Jaakkola, Racchi, Fowler

Possible XI - Bell, Pursehouse, Kroca, Pascali, McKeown, Fowler, Silva, Hay, Harkins, Kelly, Heffernan (4-5-1)

Prediction - Celtic 2-0 Kilmarnock

Obviously with Majstorovic's horror facial injury last week Celtic are really short at the back, but I reckon that is not a bad thing as the players filling in are probably better! I reckon Lennon will save Stokes who is carrying a knock for the old firm match so it could be big greek pudding Samaras up front with Hooper.

Killie managed a 1-1 draw in this fixture last year but with the momentum and the fact that Celtic absolutely must maintain just a 4pt gap with Rangers ahead of the 28th showdown I really don't think we will see an upset here. If it had been at Kilmarnock it would have been more interesting but at home its a Celtic win! Side bet on Forrest to score @ 3.1 (bet365)


__________________________________________________

Dundee Utd v Hibs (KO 1.30pm)

Dundee Utd

Injuries - Swanson, Severin
Available Squad - Pernis, Douglas, Dixon, Dillon, Neilson, Watson, Kenneth, Gunning, Smith, Allan, Flood, Rankin, Armstrong, Robertson, Mackay-Steven, Hilson, Dow, Russell, Daly, Dalla Valle, Banks

Possible XI - Pernis, Dillon, Kenneth, Dixon, Neilson, Armstrong, Flood, Robertson, Allan, Daly, Russell (4-4-2)


Hibs

Injuries - Osbourne
Available Squad - Stack, Hart, Towell, O'Hanlon, Hanlon, Sproule, Wotherspoon, Palsson, Scott, O'Connor, Sodje, Galbraith, Agogo, Brown, Stevenson, Stephens, Booth, Murray, Welsh, Griffiths

Possible XI - Stack, Hart, Hanlon, O'Hanlon, Stevenson, Wotherspoon, Scott, Stephens, Sproule, Griffiths, O'Connor (4-4-2)

Prediction - Dundee Utd 1-1 Hibs

Dirty Hibees have a real problem scoring enough goals to win matches, basically if the other team score its unlikely Hibs will win the match. Hibs have only 16 goals from 18 matches. This is a little surprising as Sproule, Griffiths and O'Connor are certainlly dangerous upfront, problem is the rest of the team is poor. Dundee Utd have been really bad this season though with basically the same team as last year. I'm going with a draw here and reckon the price on Dundee Utd is a massive LAY opportunity!



__________________________________________________

Dunfermline v St Johnstone (KO 1.30pm)

Dunfermline

Injuries - Gallacher, McCann, Phinn, Thomson, Rutkiewicz, Bell, McDougall
Available Squad - Keddie, Dowie, Potter, Graham, R Thomson, Kirk, Boyle, Willis, Buchanan, Barrowman, Smith, Mason, Hardie, Young, Clarke, Byrne, Smith, Campbell, Burns, Cardle, Easton

Probable XI : Smith, Dowie, Keddie, Potter, R. Thomson, Burns, Mason, Hardie, Cardle, Barrowman, Kirk (4-4-2)

St Johnstone

Injuries - Wright, Sheridan, Robertson
Available Squad - Enckelman, Maybury, Mackay, C Davidson, Anderson, McCracken, Morris, M Davidson, Craig, Moon, Millar, Sandaza, Finnigan, Haber, Parkin, Durnan, McIntosh, Mannus

Possible XI : Enckelman, C. Davidson, Anderson, McCracken, Maybury, Craig, Moon, Millar, Morris, Sandaza, Haber (4-4-2)

Prediction - Dunfermline 0-1 St Johnstone

Rather embarrassingly Dunfermline are still searching for their first home win of the season, which is just not really good enough. St Johnstone too are not in the best form coming off 3 home defeats in a row but this was noticably when their main players Sheridan & Sandaza have been out injured. I'm expecting Sandaza back for this game but Sheridan is still out (and also now a laughing stock in Scotland after sporting a horrendous jumper on BBC Sportscene last week
http://www.onlyanexcuse.com/2011/12/19/4594/cillian-sheridans-jumper-and-other-football-fashion-misdemeanors/  )

I see St Johnstone just doing enough to scrape a win, but a draw wouldn't surprise me. NO BET and no interest in St Johnstone......

No comments:

Post a Comment