Last weekend, Celtic earned the first trophy of the season with victory over Rangers in the League Cup Final. This week, all 12 teams are back in action in the Premiership giving a few more options for Sorare capped mode competitions. Despite the full slate of fixtures it’s a bit of a tricky week with some of the strong teams for Capped Mode having unfavourable match-ups. That being said, there are still some players I like.

In the interest of openness, I do own cards 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. I’m certainly not Nostradamus, as evidenced by Cap 240 results to date, so do your own research when picking up players.

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The Games

Hearts-St Johnstone After a really strong period since the World Cup, Hearts have had a little wobble recently winning just one of the last 4. They host a St Johnstone team just coming out of their own poor run and are the best away team outside of the Old Firm. I still like Hearts to get a win in this one, but St Johnstone should make a game of it.

Livingston-Hibernian Livingston home games are usually low scoring affairs, with them scoring just 13 and conceding 14 in 13 home games. Hibs have found some great form recently, but are still a bit goal-shy away from home averaging just a goal-a-game. It feels like there’s goals in every game this week, but this would be my bet for the lowest scoring game of the week.

Rangers-Kilmarnock After a disappointing loss in the League Cup Final, Rangers get a great bounce-back spot this weekend. Kilmarnock haven’t won any of their 14 away league games this season and have scored just 5 goals away from Fir Park. This should be a comfortable win to nil for Rangers, it’s just a shame there aren’t many of their players with cards on Sorare.

Ross County-Motherwell It took a last minute equaliser last weekend, but Motherwell maintained their unbeaten start to Stuart Kettlewell’s time at the helm. Whilst Ross County earned a huge win against Dundee United to take them 4 clear of bottom spot. Motherwell haven’t been bad on the road this season, and I think they have a good chance at keeping their unbeaten streak going this weekend.

Dundee United-Aberdeen Aberdeen are one of the worst away sides in the league, but they do face the awful Dundee United this week. United lost to Ross County last weekend in a relegation six-pointer and promptly fired their manager, Liam Fox. If Aberdeen are going to get a win away from home, this is the best fixture they’re going to get all season

St Mirren-Celtic Celtic might well beat St Mirren on Sunday afternoon, but they could struggle to be their usual free-scoring selves. St Mirren have conceded just 9 goals in their 14 home this season including a 2-0 victory over Celtic back in September. On balance, I will likely avoid this game entirely – I’m not sure there are any good bets to outscore their L15 cost.

Goalkeepers

David Marshall, Hibs – I don’t think there are any goalkeepers that I feel really confident in this week, but Marshall at Hibs is my pick of the bunch. David Marshall has been on a decent run, keeping a clean sheet in 3 of the last 5 games. Thanks to poor scores before the new year, he’s got a very affordable L15 of 42. Against Livingston’s low scoring attack, this is a rare time I would look for an away keeper against a top half-side.

Shamal George*, Livingston – Livingston are a really strong defensive side at home and Shamal George can put up monster scores when he does keep a clean sheet. On paper, Hibs aren’t the best on the road but they have scored in 4 of their last 5 away games. George is probably my second best option this week, but if you’ve got options outside of Scotland I would look closely at them.

Other Thoughts: Ranger’s keeper, Allan McGregor, would easily be my top pick if he had a card on Sorare. It’s not the best game for Joe Hart*, but St Mirren aren’t the most free scoring at home, so he could earn the clean sheet. Liam Kelly* only costs 37, so he’s worth a look as a budget option that can enable some higher cost outfielders.

Defenders

Toby Sibbick, Hearts – St Johnstone are a strong team on the road, but Toby Sibbick has been in great form since the turn of the year. The central defender has been putting up strong AA scores as well as bagging a couple of decisives. He’s outscored his L15 of 47 in 6 of 8 games in 2023 and he should have a good shot at doing that again this week.

Sean Kelly*, Livingston – If Livingston can keep a clean sheet against Hibs, then Sean Kelly should be a good bet to outscore his L15 of 43. Despite having defender cards on Sorare, Kelly operates in the centre of midfield giving a path to add some more attacking actions than most defenders. He can chip in with the odd decisive as well, having scored two and created two this season.

Other Thoughts: Paul Hanlon* scored a 60 in his last game, and should put up a strong score again if Hibs can hold Livingston score-less. Another strong performance from a resurgent Motherwell could lead to some nice scores for Paul McGinn*, and Ricki Lamie* if he can return form injury. This is probably a week to steer clear of Celtic defenders if your gallery allows.

Midfielders

Todd Cantwell, Rangers – Since joining Rangers at the end of January, Cantwell has played all 4 of Rangers league games and started 3 of them. Over that time he’s averaged 60 points operating as a CAM, and still has an L15 of 49 thanks to lower scores for Norwich. This is great match-up for him to rack up AA and decisives against Kilmarnock, if you have him make the most of it before his Norwich scores cycle out of his L15!

Sean Goss, Motherwell – Since Stuart Kettlewell took charge at Motherwell, Sean Goss has re-found his early season form. He’s topped 50 points in all three games and scored 17+ points in each from AA actions alone. Ross County have looked a little better themselves of late, but there’ll be opportunities for the taking for Goss in this one.

Other Thoughts: Dundee United are in terrible form, but Aberdeen have conceded the most away goals in the league, so taking a look at Dylan Levitt or Craig Sibbald maybe worthwhile. He doesn’t have any limited cards but Robert Snodgrass is a nice option for Hearts. Cantwell’s midfield teammate, Malik Tillman, should also be in line for a big game against Killie.

Forwards

Kevin van Veen*, Motherwell – Motherwell are one of the better away sides in the bottom half of the Premiership and get a Ross County side that can be scored on. As the number 9, Kevin van Veen is the best bet to grab a big goal in an important relegation battle.

Lawrence Shankland, Hearts – Lawrence Shankland is second in the goal scoring charts to just Kyogo Furuhashi and should have a solid chance at adding number 18 against St Johnstone. He takes penalties and Hearts are at the top of the penalties earned chart this season,

Other Thoughts: Aberdeen are one of just three teams to have scored under 10 away from home this season, but Dundee United is a great match-up – Bojan Miovski* and Duk Lopes are both worth a look. Bruce Anderson should get chances at home to Hibs. I’d stay away from Celtic forwards in a game that projects to be low scoring by their standards.

My Cap 240 Line-Up

After mixing in some non-Premiership players last week, I’m back to a Scotland only line-up in Cap 240 this week. The Scotland focus isn’t a conscious decision, but I think this is best line-up I can make within the cap this week. The line-up is focused on two teams, Livingston and Hearts, which does make it a bit more boom or bust than spreading among more teams.

I’ve gone for a Livingston defensive-double with goalkeeper Shamal George and defender Sean Kelly. As I discussed earlier, Livingston are a strong defensive team when playing at the Tony Macaroni Arena. Hibs haven’t been great away from home, although they are in a decent run of form. It’s not the slam-dunk match-up I’d ideally have, but I think it’s the best option in my gallery.

The rest of the team is made up of Hearts players at all three levels. Despite a little wobble of late, I think they have a great chance to re-find their form against St Johnstone. Firstly, Michael Smith in the defence operates as a right wing-back and has the potential to add both decisives and big AA scores.

Cammy Devlin in the midfield is definitely my least secure option in the team. He consistently starts for Hearts in the centre of midfield but generally needs a decisive to outscore his L15. Depending on the news that comes out in the week, I might swap him out for his teammate, Andy Halliday. Halliday adds more decisive potential but has been in and out of the starting XI a lot more than Devlin.

Finally, Barrie McKay makes the team as the forward option, playing off of Lawrence Shankland he has the ability to add both goals and assists for Hearts. He also has a solid enough AA game that I like his chances of at least hitting his L15 of 51 if he doesn’t get a decisive.

Gameweek #349 Recap

Another game week, another failure in Cap 240 for me. Jeong Woon for Jeju United didn’t get his AA scored fully due to Opta missing the deadline, but it’s unlikely he would have added 28 more points to make the difference.

The real killer came in the Kilmarnock game as Sam Walker conceded a last minute Motherwell equaliser to lose the clean sheet. Walker did make six other saves in the game, so perhaps it’s not unreasonable that one managed to get past him. For me though that goal cost me a threshold, with the resulting point hits to all three Killie players.

I didn’t watch the Charlotte FC game, but by the statistics it looks like Karol Swiderski had a much quieter game than I was hoping for. He had just the one shot on target and no attempted assists. I think there’ll be bigger games to come for Swiderski.

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