Capped Mode 240 kick’s off in Game Week #342 with the Scottish Premiership in action this mid-week. I’m going to put my thoughts down on the games and suggest some player I think I have a good chance to outscore their L15 average. There are also a few players I think could fall flat this week, or at least under-perform their L15 score.

In the interest of openness, I will own cards of some of the players I’m recommending (you can check out my gallery here) and will mark them with an asterisk (*). But, I’ll also try and include some players I don’t have. As always, do your own research when picking up players.

I have built a squad of Scottish players in the build-up to capped-mode, consisting of 24 players to hopefully give me some good options each week. If you’re interested in the players I have available and why I like them you can check out this review of the gallery (although it is a little out of date).

The Games

Ross County-Hibernian The Game Week kicks off on Tuesday with a meeting of two sides that picked up huge wins at the weekend. Ross County’s 3-0 win against Kilmarnock took them off the bottom of the Premiership on goal difference. Whilst Hibernian thrashed Aberdeen 6-0 and may well have saved the Lee Johnson’s job in the process. It looks to be a game to focus on the forwards with Ross County conceding just under 2 goals a game at home and Hibernian conceding just over two away from home. I’m definitely staying away from the goalkeepers in this game.

Aberdeen-St Mirren It’s been a tough few weeks for Aberdeen with a shock defeat to non-league Darvel in the Scottish Cup sandwiched between 5-0 and 6-0 losses. However, they have been strong at home in the Premiership and face a St Mirren team that has been awful away. I would look to play Aberdeen players if you have them from all across the pitch. There are a lot of Aberdeen players with wide home/away scoring splits and St Mirren have scored just 7 goals in 10 away games this season.

Celtic-Livingston A pretty obvious one here, but Celtic players are the only ones I’ll be considering in this match. Livingston might be performing pretty well in terms of wins and losses away form home, but they are conceding just under 2 goals per game on average. There is one issue when picking individuals, we could see some rotation from Celtic. Having said that, there will be some great opportunities if you can pick the right player.

Hearts-Rangers I don’t think this is necessarily a good spot for either side. Rangers are obviously a stern test for any side and Hearts away may well be the toughest fixture outside of the Old Firm teams. There’s not a lot of Rangers players with cards on Sorare anyway, but I’ll be staying away from Hearts defenders and Zander Clark. Hearts forwards might be worth a shot, Rangers haven’t been as strong defensively on the road so Shankland or McKay might be worth a go.

Kilmarnock-Dundee United Like Aberdeen, Kilmarnock are strong at home and shocking away. They aren’t the best defensively, but 8 of 17 goals conceded came against the Old Firm. Dundee United have also been poor on the road this season so it’s certainly a match-up to target for Kilmarnock. Killie also get their creative spark and set piece taker, Daniel Armstrong, back from suspension so they could make an impact at both ends of the pitch.

Motherwell-St Johnstone This is a bit of a tough one to read. Motherwell have been really poor at home this season (just one win in 10). But St Johnstone are in awful form losing their last 6 games in the Premiership. St Johnstone haven’t kept a clean in sheet in any of their 11 away Premiership games this season, so if anyone is going to score I’d go for Motherwell.

Goalkeepers

Joe Lewis, Aberdeen – Really this entry should say “Aberdeen GK” with the rumours that Aberdeen are on the brink of signing Jay Gorter on loan from Ajax. Joe Lewis has been terrible so far in relief of the injured Kelle Roos, and if Gorter is cleared to play by Wednesday I expect he will. Both options are incredibly cheap with Lewis at 2 points or Gorter at 0 points. If Lewis does end up starting another game, I don’t really see how he can perform that poorly this week against a St Mirren side that haven’t scored in their last 3 away games.

Liam Kelly*, Motherwell – Motherwell don’t keep a lot of clean-sheets, just 5 in 22 games played. However, St Johnstone are in awful form and may be without striker Nicky Clark depending on whether his red card against Rangers gets overturned. Even with Clark in the line-up St Johnstone have failed to score in 4 of their last 5 games.

Other Thoughts: Joe Hart is an obvious option for a clean sheet this week as he is most weeks. I had Kilmarnock keeper Samuel Walker* in the first draft of this article, but he was surprisingly benched at the weekend. His replacement, Zach Hemming, fumbled a shot for Ross County’s third and doesn’t have a card on the platform regardless. Zander Clark has been a solid option since stepping in for Craig Gordon, but is one to avoid this week for sure.

Defenders

Anthony Stewart, Aberdeen – Pairing goalkeepers and defenders from the same team is a great way to maximise the return on a clean sheet. Anthony Stewart has some up and down performances as you’d expect with Aberdeen’s struggles including a couple of single digit scores in recent weeks. However, when Aberdeen do keep a clean-sheet his solid AA game can get him above 50 points comfortably.

Lewis Mayo*, Kilmarnock – Lewis Mayo is a youngster on loan from Rangers. From a Sorare perspective he hasn’t set the world alight, but he has established himself as a first team player. When Killie manage a clean sheet, Mayo puts up great scores with strong AA performances. Against Dundee United I think they have a reasonable chance at a clean sheet, although it’s far from a guaranteed thing.

Other Thoughts: Motherwell defenders are interesting this week, including Paul McGinn and Ricki Lamie. Celtic new boy Yuki Kobayashi is a little bit of a risk, but could be good value. He’s only played one of four since joining Celtic, but I think he will rotate back in for Livingston. Keith Watson puts up decent scores on the rare occasions Ross County put up a clean sheet, but it seems unlikely that will happen this week.

Midfielders

Daniel Armstrong*, Kilmarnock – Armstrong’s only home performance under 50 points since August came against Rangers in his last game (where he was sent off), so he has at least a good shot at reaching his L15. If he can grab a decisive he could be one for a monster score and as the set-piece taker for Kilmarnock he will have his opportunities.

Todd Cantwell, Rangers – New signing Cantwell has a low L15 average after making a mixture of starts and sub appearances for Norwich. At the weekend he started for Rangers and racked up a respectable 48 points in 60 minutes. In one of the dominant teams in Scotland, Cantwell should be player that can put up strong scores consistently. Until his L15 average adjusts he will remain a great pick for capped mode.

Other Thoughts: James Jeggo started his first game for Hibernian and took Ryan Porteous’ role in the centre of midfield. At Eupen he had mixture of starts and sub appearance, he should outscore his L15 of 40 for a few weeks at least. Josh Campbell is also worth playing from Hibernian, his L15 is a little lower than it should be thanks to some sub-appearances before the World Cup. Ylber Ramadani and Matty Kennedy are both worth a play from Aberdeen.

Forwards

Jordan White, Ross County – Bottom of the league Ross County haven’t been a free scoring team so far this season. However, Hibernian have been pretty terrible away from home making this a decent spot to bank on Ross County goals. Jordan White is the teams top scorer (albeit only with 4 goals) making him as good a bet as any to grab a decisive.

Kevin Van Veen*, Motherwell – This week, against St Johnstone, is one of Motherwell’s best spots to pick up a second home win of the season. If they are going to do it, Kevin Van Veen would be the most obvious option to grab a goal. With Van Veen, that’s what we need – when he doesn’t have a decisive he rarely scores over 40 points.

Other Thoughts: The goals have dried up for Bojan Miovski since the World Cup, but he does take penalties giving him an extra path to a decisive action. Daizen Maeda* was rested for Celtic in favour of Liel Abada at the weekend. I think he’ll start in the week and is good bet for a decisive. Kevin Nisbet* is an interesting option, he is set to return to the starting XI against Ross County but with an L15 of 64 he needs a decisive. Against Ross County there is a decent chance of that, but his upside is definitely capped.

My 240 Line-Up

With threshold payments being on offer in Capped Mode 240, I have made that my priority tournament. I’ve started the line-up with a Motherwell defensive stack of Liam Kelly and Ricki Lamie. Both have pretty low scoring L15s thanks to Motherwell’s defensive struggles, as I mentioned above I think this is one of their best chances of keeping a clean sheet.

In midfield, Kilmarnock’s Daniel Armstrong is an obvious pick on his return from suspension. The expectation is that he will be right around his L15 as a minimum, and against Dundee United he should have his opportunities to exceed it comfortably.

Both my forwards are decisive-dependant options, but have great match-ups to get one. Kevin Van Veen continues the Motherwell theme of the line-up and should have his chances against St Johnstone. The highly priced Kevin Nisbet rounds off the line-up. After a sub appearance at the weekend, Lee Johnson has confirmed he will return to the line-up against Ross County. I wouldn’t bet against him adding his 9th goal of the season, even on the road.

Overall, this line-up comes to exactly 240 points and I think it has a decent chance at earning 250 points at a $5 pay-out. It is heavily dependent on Motherwell having a good game but I think the match-up justifies it.

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