Celtic v Aberdeen
Celtic
Injuries - Bangura
Doubts - Brown, Forrest
Available Squad - Forster, Matthews, Wanyama, Rogne, Lustig, Mulgrew, Wilson, Izaguirre,
Commons, Brown, Forrest, McCourt, Ledley, Kayal, Samaras, Stokes,
Hooper, Zaluska, McGeouch, Twardzik
Probable XI : Forster, Matthews, Mulgrew, Lustig, Izaguirre, Commons, Wanyama, Kayal, Ledley, Hooper, Stokes (4-4-2)
Aberdeen
Injuries - none
Available Squad - Langfield, Brown, Foster, Considine, Anderson, Naysmith, Robertson,
Jack, Hughes, Rae, Milsom, Vernon, Fallon, Hayes, McGinn, Osbourne,
Megginson, Magennis, Fraser, Paton, Pawlett
Probable XI: Langfield, Foster, Considine, Anderson, Naysmith, Hayes, Milsom, Rae, Jack, Vernon, McGinn (4-4-2)
Prediction : Celtic 2-0 Aberdeen
I can see Neil Lennon resting Samaras for the european game and going
Stokes and Hooper up front for this game. There are doubts over the
fitness of both Forrest and Scott Brown so I imagine they will not
feature either. I've got to admit that the Aberdeen team is looking
much better this season and notably in defence where they actually look
quite solid (famous last words...) For me though Celtic are simply
better all over the park and I expect a comfortable home win. I read
somewhere that Celtic haven't lost an opening day fixture sine 1997
season when a certain Mr Larsson made his debut. If they can get off to
one of their flying starts I think a pop at the Celtic HT/FT @ 1.83 (Paddy Power) looks nice.
____________________________________________________________________________
Hearts v St Johnstone
Hearts
Injuries - Hammill
Suspended - Grainger
Available Squad - MacDonald, Ridgers, Barr, McGowan, Zaliukas, Webster, McKay, McHattie,
Templeton, Taouil, Driver, Prychynenko, Holt, Novikovas, Thomson,
Walker, Sutton, Robinson, G Smith, D Smith
Probable XI : McDonald, McGowan, Zaliukas, Webster, McHattie, Driver, Barr, Templeton, Taouil, Robinson, Sutton (4-4-1-1)
St Johnstone
Injuries - none
Available Squad - Mannus, Mackay, C Davidson, Wright, Anderson, M Davidson, Tade, Craig,
Hasselbaink, Cregg, Miller, Moon, Tuffey, Higgins, McCracken, Adams,
May, Scobbie, Vine
Probable XI: Mannus, C. Davidson, Wright, McCracken, Miller, Cregg, M. Davison, Millar, Craig, Tade, Vine (4-4-2)
Prediction : Hearts 1-0 St Johnstone
Jambos will be looking to get the season off to a good start with a
solid home win but come up against a St Johnstone team who already have 2
competitive games played already in the Europa Cup qualifying. Hearts
have had a decent pre-season with 3 wins out of 4 against Raith Rovers,
Dunfermline and Rotherham and narrowly getting beaten by Falkirk 1-0.
With no new arrivals McGlynn is having to make do with a mixture of
experience sprinkled with some very promising youngsters who will be
keen to make their mark. St Johnstone are quickly becoming a bit of a
bogey team for Hearts and last season the 4 league fixtures produced 3
wins for St Johnstone and only 1 home win for Hearts. I'm tempted to
back Hearts for a win at 2.1 but do worry a little bit about the extra
match fitness/sharpness that St Johnston may have. I do see goals in
this game with John Sutton firing well since his return from Australia
and feel St Johnstone at least have a goal in them with big Tade and new
signing Vine (if he plays) scoring a couple of goals in a friendly win
over Bristol City last week. I'll have a go at OVER 2.5 goals @ 2.1
(Paddy Power)
____________________________________________________________________________
Kilmarnock v Dundee
Kilmarnock
Injuries - Heffernan, Hay, Pursehouse
Available Squad - Bell, Tesselaar, Fowler, O'Leary, Nelson, Kelly, Harkins, Johnson,
McKenzie, Dayton, Pascali, Boulding, Kennedy, Racchi, Fisher, McKeown,
Winchester, Letheren
Probable XI : Bell, Tesselaar, Fowler, O'Leary, Pascali, Nelson, Kelly, Harkins, Kennedy, Racchi, Boulding (4-5-1)
Dundee
Injuries -
Available Squad - Douglas, McGregor, Lockwood, Benedictus, Gallagher, Irvine, Webster,
McBride, Conroy, Baird, McIntosh, Stewart, Davidson, Grassi, McCluskey,
Reid, Cavanagh, Baird
Probable XI: Douglas, Benedictus, Gallagher, McGregor, Lockwood, Webster, Irvine, McBride, Conroy, McIntosh, J. Baird (4-4-2)
Prediction : Kilmarnock 2-0 Dundee
Killie fans will be disappointed that they have lost Dean Shiels to
Rangers and he will be a big miss, especially as they are a bit short up
from and for this match in particular as Heffernan is unavailable also.
I'm expecting to see a bit of a make shift lineup from Kenny Shiels but
we could see new signing Boulding making his debut together with right
back Tesselaar. Kilmarnock had a good run out against Bristol City at
the weekend only losing out to a late goal in a 2-3 defeat. As a
measure of how poorly run Scottish football is Dundee actually had to
play in the League Cup last week and have only had 3 weeks notice to
prepare for being in the Premier giving them very little chance to
budget or even bring in some players. They have brought in one player
though, Mark Stewart, but I reckon he will only start from the bench.
Without doubt Dundee are odds on favourites to go straight back down
and I have to agree - they could well be out of their depth here. Home Win @ 2.0 (Ladbrokes) appeals to me.
____________________________________________________________________________
Ross County v Motherwell
Ross County
Injuries - Quinn
Suspended - Kettlewell
Available Squad - Fraser, Malin, Boyd, Munro, Tokely, Fitzpatrick, Brittain, Lawson,
Vigurs, Corcoran, Scott, Quinn, Duncan, Cooper, Byrne, Craig, Glen,
Morrow, McMenamin
Probable XI : Fraser, Boyd, Munro, Tokely, Morrison, Corcoran, Brittain, Craig, Vigurs, Scott, McMenamin (4-4-2)
Motherwell
Injuries - Saunders, Carswell
Available Squad - Randolph, Hateley, Hammell, Hutchinson, Ramsden, Law, Lasley, Murphy,
Humphrey, Higdon, Ojamaa, Daley, Murray, Page, McHugh, Cummins,
Hetherington, Holli
Probable XI: Randolph, Hateley, Hutchison, Ramsden, Hammell, Humphrey, Law, Lasley, Murphy, Ojamaa, Higdon (4-4-2)
Prediction : Ross County 1-2 Motherwell
Ross county have continued their romp to the first division title with
an unbeaten friendly preseason including a victory over Coventry. They
simply cant stop scoring goals and I'm expecting McMenamin to find the
transition to the top flight no problem as he is a goal scorer, with 20
goals last season. It's a tough opening day trip for Motherwell but
they'll be used to tough challanges having been comprehensively beaten
2-0 by Panathinaikos midweek in their champions league qualifier.
Motherwell still boast a really good starting XI this year and they too
are full of goals so for me the OVER 2.5 Goals @ 1.75 (Bet Victor) looks a decent bet in this match. The result is a harder call but I would favour Motherwell.
____________________________________________________________________________
St Mirren v Inverness
St Mirren
Injuries - Carey
Suspended - Goodwin, Thompson, McAusland
Available Squad - Samson, van Zanten, McGregor, Mair, Imrie, Robertson, McGowan, Adam,
McLean, McKernon, Parkin, Reilly, Teale, Naismith, Barron, Lamont,
Kelly, Guy
Probable XI : Samson, Van Zanten, McGregor, Mair, Robertson, McGowan, McLean, Imrie, Teale, Kelly, Parkin (4-4-1-1)
Inverness
Injuries - Hogg
Suspended - Foran
Available Squad - Esson, Reguero, G Shinnie, Meekings, Warren, Raven, King, Pepper,
Draper, Tudur Jones, A Shinnie, Ross, Morrison, Doran, Laing, Polworth,
Sutherland, McKay, Oswell
Probable XI: Esson G. Shinnie, Cooper, Meekings, Raven, Sutherland, Draper, Doran, Morrison, A. Shinnie, McKay (4-4-2)
Prediction : St Mirren 0-1 Inverness
I reckon St Mirren will struggle here because they are missing 3 first
team players all through suspension and they are all key players. Not
too sure what to make of Inverness's new signings yet but they also had
an impressive 3-1 win over Coventry the other week. St Mirren have yet
to get a win over Inverness at their new ground and I can see that
hoodoo remaining. I think this is a good spot to LAY St Mirren @ 2.41 (betfair)
____________________________________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment