This midweek there are three Scottish Premiership games being played. Celtic and Rangers play their games that were rescheduled due to the League Cup Final against Hearts and Hibs respectively. Whilst Livingston and Dundee United also play in a game rescheduled from before Christmas due to a frozen pitch. With the short break since the weekend games, there’s sure to be plenty of rotation to contend with.

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

Livingston-Dundee United Despite usually being a strong home team, Livingston conceded four goals to Hibs at the weekend. After taking an early lead, they conceded two before half-time and after a red card for Jackson Fitzwater they conceded a further unanswered brace in the second half. On the other side, Dundee’s lack of finishing cost them dearly against Aberdeen. Despite having 24 shots to Aberdeen’s 9, they scored just a solitary goal from the penalty spot.

Celtic-Hearts Celtic had an early scare against St Mirren, when Mark O’Hara scored from the spot after just 6 minutes. But in the second half they got going, scoring 5 goals against the 10 men of St Mirren. Hearts picked up a big home win against St Johnstone after a little slump in recent weeks. They aren’t the best team on the road, so I wouldn’t expect any major struggles for Celtic. The key with Celtic is going to be finding the players who actually start – I expect there will be a fair bit of rotation.

Hibernian-Rangers Hibs recorded an excellent away win against Livingston at the weekend, scoring 4 goals in the process. With Kevin Nisbet and Kukharevych returning from injury, they have a wealth of firepower. They’ll likely need it against Rangers, who score well wherever they play. They eased to a 3-1 victory over Kilmarnock at the weekend and will expect to add another at Easter Road on Wednesday.

Goalkeepers

With Rangers not having Sorare cards, there’s just 5 goalkeepers to pick from in the Premiership. Livingston’s Shamal George* is the clear pick of the bunch hosting a Dundee United side that has scored just 11 goals on the road this season. But there are some concerns, he suffered a thumb injury in the closing minutes of Saturday’s game and there has been no news as of yet. Manager, David Martindale discussed some other injuries in Monday’s press conference but I can’t find any update on the keeper.

Joe Hart* for Celtic is the only other keeper worth considering. Celtic are very strong at home, and despite being third in the league Hearts have scored just 14 in 13 away games. The remaining keepers on the platform should all concede, better to look elsewhere if your gallery allows.

Defenders

Alongside Shamal George, Livingston defenders will be an obvious way to attack this game week. Morgan Boyes* should be a guaranteed starter in the centre of defence and can put up big AA scores on his day. Sean Kelly* was a surprise absence at the weekend, if there’s clarity on his status he would be a solid play.

Looking to Celtic, I think we could see Yuki Kobayashi get his second start in Scottish football in favour of Starfelt or Carter-Vickers. At full-back, if there is rotation Alexandro Bernabei would be great value at a 32 L15 but Anthony Ralston would be one to avoid at a 66 cost.

It’s hard to see clean sheets from the other 4 sides, making their defenders hard to back. Rangers would be the best of the rest, but have no starting defenders on Sorare.

Midfielders

Callum McGregor is a pretty safe bet to start for Celtic in midfield and Reo Hatate* may well keep his starting role as well. The third spot is more up for grabs, Aaron Mooy started at the weekend so I would expect it to be Matt O’Reilly but David Turnbull could be a surprise starter. Livingston’s top midfielder, Stephen Kelly, doesn’t have a card unfortunately. Scott Pittman is a fairly safe bet to start, but he doesn’t score well from a Sorare perspective. If he does start Jason Holt* has the potential to put up good AA scores and only costs 29.

There isn’t much that stands out from the other sides, but Todd Cantwell remains a strong value pick at Rangers. Joe Newell* was absent again for Hibs at the weekend, he should be on the bench if he makes the squad at all.

Forwards

Both of Livingston’s forwards, Bruce Anderson* and Joel Nouble, are decisive-dependant options and I think both should start in a plus match-up against Dundee United. Celtic’s Daizen Maeda is a solid bet to be rested, with Liel Abada being likely to get a start. I think we will also see Oh Hyeon-Gyu get a start, quite possibly in place of Kyogo Furuhashi.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Hibs get a goal, Elie Youan has 5 in his last 5 and could get the start again against Rangers. Kevin Nisbet* did get 20 minutes against Livingston, so he could end up getting back into the starting XI here.

My Cap 240 Line-Up

As it stands I’m going to go with a full Livingston stack in Cap 240 this week. It only comes in at 203 points, so there is some scope to move it to Cap 220 and even upgrade somewhere with a common card. However, with the points for a card reward being similar between Limited 220 and 240 I think I’ll probably stick with the chance at a threshold.

There are some question marks in this team – firstly Shamal George in goal. With him not being reported on from the Livi press conference on Monday, I’m working on the principal no news is good news. Jason Holt is the other question mark, as he hasn’t been a consistent starter recently. But with Stephane Omeonga’s injury and the confusion over Sean Kelly’s status I think he could start again.

The defensive duo of Morgan Boyes and Nicholas Devlin should be nailed on to start and can put up solid scores when they keep a clean sheet. Finally. Bruce Anderson up front is a decisive dependant option, but he should get plenty of opportunities against Dundee United.

With the question marks in this team, I will be keeping an eye on it right up to the deadline and may look to swap at goalkeeper in particular. To replace Holt, I have a few Hibs and Hearts options I don’t like the matchup for – but it might be better to guarantee a starter if possible.

Gameweek #351 Recap

With Sean Kelly being a surprise absentee from the Livingston squad, this line-up was basically dead before the games even started. Cammy Devlin being dropped to the bench put the nails in the coffin. Given how awfully Livingston, and therefore Shamal George, I don’t think it would have hit the 250 point mark even if both of them had started.

On the plus side by two Hearts starters did have good games. Michael Smith got a 60+ point score from AA alone. Whilst Barrie McKay‘s two assists helped him to a fantastic 85 points, it’s just a shame both were wasted in this line-up.

I went into this week not feeling too confident in my goalkeeper options. But, I did have Liam Kelly of Motherwell keep a clean-sheet so my gallery had the potential to do better. With me yet to record a single threshold, I will be reviewing my approach to line-up building.

I have been stacking consistently, which increases the variance in results. It may mean I miss out on more thresholds than if I split my options more, as one game going badly will give bad scores to multiple players which can’t be overcome. But on the other hand when it all comes to together it should be more explosive to challenge for card rewards. Depending on my priorities increasing the number of teams represented could be a solution to getting more consistent returns from my gallery.

If you haven’t signed up to Sorare and fancy giving it a go, sign up via this referral link and earn a free limited card when you collect five cards via New Card Auctions.