SPL - Saturday 3rd Nov Team News & Thoughts‏

Dundee v Hearts

Dundee


Injuries - Easton, Grassi, O'Donnell, Stewart, Finnigan, McCluskey, Kerr

Available Squad - Douglas, McGregor, Lockwood, Irvine, Webster, Conroy, McAlister, Baird, McIntosh, Davidson, Reid, Cavanagh, McBride, Riley, Milne, Boyle, Nish, Toshney, Benedictus, Gallagher

Probable XI - Douglas, Irvine, Benedictus, Gallagher, Lookwood, Rilley, McBride, Conroy, Davidson, Nish, McAllister (4-4-2)




Hearts


Injuries - Stevenson, Ridgers, Carrick

Available Squad - MacDonald, R McGowan, Webster, Zaliukas, Grainger, Paterson, Barr, Taouil, Novikovas, Sutton, Driver, Robinson, Holt, D McGowan, McHattie, Smith, Enckelman, King.

Probable XI  - MacDonald, McGowan, Webster, Zaliukas, Grainger, Barr, Taouil, Novikovas, Driver, Paterson, Sutton (4-4-1-1)





Prediction:  Dundee 0-1 Hearts


Dundee have been a horror show since joining the SPL, and many feel sorry for them as it really should have been Dunfermline there instead of them. Other than their opening day draw at Kilmarnock and their shock win at Tynecastle Dundee have lost all their other games this season and at times by some margin. Hearts will be looking to avenge that silly defeat back in September but as always Hearts poor away form really does make the skinny odds of around 1.8 unbackable in my book. It's a NO BET for me but if you do fancy a flutter I would look at the HT/FT market for a bit of value and take it to be a draw at HT and Hearts win at FT



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Hibs v St Mirren


Hibs

Injuries - Deegan
Doubtful - Clancy
Available Squad - Williams, Clancy, Hanlon, McPake, Maybury, Claros, Cairney, Wotherspoon, Stevenson, Griffiths, Doyle, Caldwell, Stanton, Caldwell, Handling, Kuqi, Sproule, McGivern, Taiwo, Antell

Probable XI - Williams, Maybury, Hanlon, McPake, McGivern, Wotherspoon, Claros, Taiwo, Cairney, Doyle, Griffiths (4-4-2)




St Mirren


Injuries - McGowan, McGregor Adam

Available Squad - Samson, Dummett, Mair, van Zanten, McAusland, Goodwin, Imrie, Reilly, Carey, Robertson, Teale, Guy, Parkin, Thompson, Smith, J McGinn, P McGinn, Barron, McLean

Probable XI  - Samson, Van Zanten, Mair, McAusland, Dummett, Goodwin, McLean, Imrie, Carey, Thompson, Parkin (4-4-2)





Prediction:  Hibs 2-1 St Mirren


Hibs form is starting to scare me a little, they really are now starting to produce under Fenlon and look a real threat upfront nowadays. Last Fridays 4-0 win at Motherwell was a very convincing performance (I had to switch off.....lol) They'll still be without midfield dominator Deegan who is out with a broken jaw but they have coped well enough without him so far. In terms of this game one thing I note is that Hibs are actually top of the table as far as home games go with St Mirren only managing to be 3rd bottom of the "away table".  Given this and the fact that St Mirren were taken all the way to penalties by Aberdeen in the cup on Tuesday with Hibs well rested I think this is a great spot to back a home win. Best price for HIBS WIN @2.2 (William Hill) I think is a bit of a steal!


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Kilmarnock v Inverness


Kilmarnock


Injuries - Gros, Hay, Racchi
Doubtful - Sheridan
Available Squad - Bell, McKeown, Nelson, O'Hara, O'Leary, Johnson, Dayton, Tesselaar, Pascali, Kelly, Sheridan, Heffernan, McKenzie, Harkins, Letheren, Perez, Sissoko, Fowler

Probable XI - Bell, McKeown, Nelson, O'Leary, McKenzie, Pascali, Kelly, Johnson, O'Harra, Heffernan, Sheridan (4-4-2)




Inverness


Injuries - Foran, King, Hogg, Ross

Available Squad - Reguero, Meekings, Raven, Warren, Blackman, G Shinnie, Morrison, A Shinnie, Pepper, Draper, Tudur Jones, Doran, McKay, Cooper, Polworth, Oswell, Brislen-Hall, Roberts, Foran, Sutherland, Esson

Probable XI  - Reguero, Raven, Warren, Meekings, G. Shinnie, Doran, Tudur-Jones, Draper, Foran, A. Shinnie, McKay (4-4-1-1)





Prediction:  Kilmarnock 2-2 Inverness


Inverness are on an amazing run, unbeaten in 8 and winning 3-0 at 3rd division minnows Rangers midweek to secure their place in the semi finals of the cup. All this from a team I thought would be relegation dog fighters! They seem to have found goal scorer from all over the park and credit has to be given to big angry Terry Butcher as he took a risk clearing out a lot of players in the off season and bringing in a lot of unknowns from England. Kenny Shiels (that horrible man) is suggesting that Inverness are big favourites for this match but this is typical of his little mind games, I think his team will be very competitive here. It should be a high scoring affair, possibly a draw but certainly overs. Take OVER 2.5 @ 1.91 (William Hill)  Seems generous to me considering Killie have gone over in 8/10 and Inverness in 4 out of the last 5.



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Ross County v Aberdeen


Ross County


Injuries - Corcoran, Lawson, Duncan

Available Squad - Fraser, Tokely, Munro, Boyd, Fitzpatrick, Brittain, Quinn, Kettlewell, Vigurs, Fotheringham, Glen, McMenamin, Dingwall, Ross, Macphee, Scott, Cooper, Morrow, Kovacevic, Brown, Porrit

Probable XI - Fraser, Kovacevic, Munro, Boyd, Fitzpatrick, Brittain, Vigurs, Kettlewell, Quinn, McMenamin, Glen (4-4-2)




Aberdeen


Injuries - Considine, Jack, Fallon, Masson, Milson

Available Squad - Langfield, Reynolds, Anderson, Robertson, Smith, Osbourne, Hayes, Rae, McGinn, Hughes, Vernon, Fraser, Magennis, Naysmith, Clark, Rogers, Shaughnessy,

Probable XI  - Langfield, Reynolds, Anderson, Osbourne, Robertson, Rae, Hughes, Hayes, McGinn, Vernon, Magennis (4-4-2)





Prediction:  Ross County 1-1 Aberdeen

Aberdeen's 1-0 defeat to Celtic on the opening day of the season remains their only blemish and they have gone undefeated since then (in 90mins). It really has been some turnaround from Craig Brown's men since last season and they are sitting pretty up in 3rd place. Why? Well because they have managed to assemble a good squad of players with a blend of youth and experienced pro's. They have a really decent midfeld and are now proving to be decent in defence. If they could just score goals i reckon they would have turned the majority of draws into wins. The two teams drew 0-0 earlier in the season in Aberdeen and again I reckon this is going to be a hotly contested Highland derby with 2000 travelling Dandy Dons. County are starting to struggle a bit in the SPL and have only actually won once at home and drawing 3. DRAW I think is the key word here, Aberdeen love a draw. They have 6 times out of 11 in the league so far and if you had been backing them to draw since the start of the season you'd be well up so lets have a go here tomorrow. DRAW @ 3.3 (Paddy Power)



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St Johnstone v Motherwell


St Johnstone


Injuries - Pawlett, Beattie, Adams, Cregg

Available Squad - Mannus, Mackay, C Davidson, Wright, Anderson, Millar, M Davidson, Tade, Craig, Hasselbaink, Robertson, McCracken, Miller, Caddis, Scobbie, Tobin, Kane, Tuffey, Gray, Vine, Moon

Probable XI - Mannus, Miller, Anderson, McCracken, Mackay, M.Davidson, Craig, Moon, Millar, Tade, Vine (4-4-2)




Motherwell


Injuries - Hutchinson, Saunders

Available Squad - Randolph, Hateley, Hammell, Hutchinson, Kerr, Cummins, Ramsden, Lasley, Law, Carswell, Humphrey, Murphy, Higdon, Ojamaa, McHugh, Francis-Angol, Daley, Hetherington, Murray, Hollis.

Probable XI  - Randolph, Hateley, Kerr, Ramsden, Hammell, Lasley, Law, Murphy, Daley, Ojamaa, Higdon (4-4-2)





Prediction:  St Johnston 2-1 Motherwell


All of a sudden Stuart McCall's men are rubbish, and I can't quite pinpoint what the problem is as its basically the same group of players that were so good last term. They have now lost their last 4 games in a row and moral must be low. This will be a problem as they are facing a St Johnstone team that apart from a skelping midweek in the cup against Celtic have been doing really well recently and are unbeaten in their last 5 at home games and finding the net with regularity. I'm going for overs in this match as 7 out of the last St Johnstone games have gone this way and I feel Motherwell will also contribute with players like Murphy, Higdon and Law playing. OVER 2.5 GOAL @ 1.85 (Bet Victor) also consider TADE anytime scorer @ 3.4 (Skybet)


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