It’s the last week of the Scottish Premiership before the league splits for the final 5 game weeks. There’s not much up for grabs at the top of the table, but there is plenty to look out for in the middle of the table as one of three sides will land in the bottom half. Not so great for them, but from a Sorare perspective that team could be great value for the final games as they play the relegation threatened sides.

At the bottom, Dundee United’s back-to-back wins have given themselves a great chance at escaping relegation. Alongside Ross County and Kilmarnock, the three sides need every point they can to avoid the drop. St Johnstone may start to worry, as their poor form has seen them slip to just 5 points away from bottom spot.

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 my Cap 240 results to date, so do your own research when picking up players.

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The Games

Hearts-Ross County It was a tough start as Hearts manager for Steven Naismith as they fell to 1-0 loss in the Edinburgh derby. This week he get’s a great chance to right the ship against Ross County. Ross County definitely deserved something from their game against Aberdeen last week, but also fell to a 1-0 defeat at home. They badly need points to get off bottom spot, but I think Hearts will get a win to keep them in the race for 3rd place.

Celtic-Motherwell The first real blip of the Stuart Kettlewell era came last week as Motherwell suffered a shock loss at home to Dundee United. It’s tough to imagine they will bounce back this week as they visit Celtic Park. Given how well they’ve scored on the road, I could see Motherwell getting a goal here but it should just be a consolation.

Dundee United-Livingston After looking certain to be relegated two weeks ago, Dundee United have won back-to-back games to put themselves up to 10th. Their opponents, Livingston, sit one point below the top half and know they need help to gain a place before the split. Despite Livingston failing to score in their last 4 away games, it’s hard to imagine Dundee keeping a clean sheet. I think we could see goals from both in this one.

St Johnstone-Hibernian St Johnstone’s awful form is putting them at risk of slipping into the relegation battle as they sit just 4 points above 11th placed Kilmarnock. Against Hibs, they come up against a team with plenty of motivation knowing a win puts them in the top half after the split. St Johnstone haven’t been great at home, whilst Hibs had been in a poor patch of form before last weekends victory. It should be a close game, but I’d give Hibs a slight edge.

St Mirren-Kilmarnock A point should see St Mirren in the top half and they get the perfect match-up hosting struggling Kilmarnock. Killie haven’t won a game on the road all season, and I don’t see it changing this week. They’re in serious trouble after Dundee United won their last two games. St Mirren should earn a comfortable victory and a chance to play for European spots over the last 5 weeks of the season.

Aberdeen-Rangers Aberdeen are in the drivers seat for 3rd place and a guaranteed spot in at least the Europa Conference group stage. However, you have to imagine the chasing pack will have an opportunity to gain ground this week. Rangers should be able to get a win here, but it isn’t the best match-up for them. I would stay away from all players in this game if you gallery allows.

Goalkeepers

Trevor Carson, St Mirren – Kilmarnock are the only team not to score double digit goals away from home this season, so this is obviously a great opportunity for Carson to hit a clean sheet. His L15 of 44 means he will need to get the clean sheet to provide value in capped mode, as he typically doesn’t score many AA points. But he has the best chance to get one of any keeper in the Premiership so start him with confidence!

Zander Clark, Hearts – Hearts’ match-up isn’t much worse than St Mirren’s, as they face a Ross County team that have scored just 10 goals away from Dingwall this season. Much like Carson, Zander Clark doesn’t score much AA points, so a clean sheet is his only path to him outscoring his L15 cost of 43.

Other Thoughts: There’s question marks with a lot of the other GKs this week, but David Marshall is the best of the rest against a St Johnstone team that haven’t even managed a goal per game at home. Joe Hart* is probably worth a go but there is some risk against Motherwell. If you don’t believe in Livingston on the road Mark Birighitti might be worth a punt.

Defenders

Aziz Behich*, Dundee United – Aziz Behich has been playing as a left winger for Dundee in recent weeks giving him a bit more decisive potential that other defenders. He should get opportunities to add to his 4 assists and 4 goals this season against a Livingston side that has conceded 3 goals in three of their last four away games. With an L15 cost of 44, he’s got a chance of exceeding that without a decisive action as well.

Nathaniel Atkinson*, Hearts – Heart’s lost their veteran right back, Michael Smith, 5 minutes into last weeks game against Hibs. Nathaniel Atkinson took his place off the bench and didn’t do an awful lot. However, his L15 is super low at 23 so if he starts he should have a really good shot at outscoring that. Him starting isn’t a guarantee, so keep an eye on the Hearts press conferences if you do want to go with him.

Other Thoughts: With Cameron Carter-Vickers injury concerns, I think we’ll see Yuki Kobayashi start for Celtic this week. Andy Considine* has big game potential for St Johnstone, Hibs haven’t scored multiple goals often on the road often so this could be a week for him. Scott Tanser has been in and out of the line-up for St Mirren in recent weeks. If he starts he should be a good value.

Midfielders

Jason Holt*, Livingston – Holt returns to column again this week as his L15 slowly adapts to his return to the starting line-up. He’s done really well in his defensive midfield role, scoring 45+ in 4 of 6 games with no (positive) decisive actions in that time. At a cost of 35, he should have a chance to outscore that in an away game where Livingston should see plenty of the ball.

Ryan Strain, St Mirren – Ryan Strain takes corners and free kicks for St Mirren to give him a great AA floor. Against Kilmarnock, St Mirren should control the game and give him plenty of opportunities to add AA. With those set pieces also come the opportunities for decisive actions, he’s had 8 so far this season. The one downside is his cost which is 53, he’s got right around there with AA alone but he hasn’t made it past 60 points without a decisive.

Other Thoughts: Last week Andy Halliday* and Cameron Devlin* both returned to the starting XI for Hearts. Halliday would be my pick of the two going into this week. I normally like Ylber Ramadani at home for Aberdeen, but I’d stay away from him against Rangers. For Dundee United, Craig Sibbald has been in decent form recently with some very respectable 20+ AA scores in his last two games.

Forwards

Steven Fletcher, Dundee United – Fletcher has been in fine form for Dundee United of recent weeks having scored 4 decisive actions over the last 5 weeks. His L15 is pretty high at 52, so I don’t expect him to do well without a decisive action. This week’s opponents, Livingston, will give him plenty of opportunities to get one, over their last 5 games they have only conceded less than 2 goals once.

Lawrence Shankland, Hearts – Lawrence Shankland has gone off the boil a bit of late with just two goals in his last 10 games. Whilst he is the third top scorer in the league, half of his 18 goals have come from the penalty spot making him a bit volatile to these kinds of runs. For a relegation candidate, Ross County have been pretty decent defensively on the road, only conceding 19 in 15 games. But, with Shanklands L15 down under 50 I think he is a decent value this week.

Other Thoughts: Alongside Shankland, I like Barrie McKay* as well. Dundee haven’t kept a clean sheet in the Premiership since the 2nd of January, so we could see goals from Bruce Anderson* or Joel Nouble. Tony Watt has had a couple of starts recently for Saint Mirren and could be a solid value if he does again.

My Cap 240 Line-Up

Before we get into the players, this has been a hard team to select this week. I didn’t have a lot of strong options at goalkeeper and my midfielders feel a bit weak as well. There is a decent chance this line-up changes before the game-week locks!

First up, goalkeeper; Shamal George has not been good on the road for Livingston, but he is at least cheap at 36 points. Realistically, I’m hoping he can concede less than 3 and his AA doesn’t end up too far into the red.

I’ve gone with two defenders this week, one from the Scottish Premiership and one from Belgium. From Scotland, I’ve got Paul Hanlon from Hibs. He can put up solid AA scores and surpass his L15 of 47 without needing a decisive. St Johnstone have the worst attack at home in the league having scored just 14 in 15 games.

From Belgium, I’ve gone with an expensive option in Jelle Bataille of Antwerp. He has an L15 of 58 points but has scored 60+ in 5 of his last 6. Antwerp are also a solid away defence having conceded 15 goals in 16 games this season, so he has a solid chance at getting those 10 points for a clean sheet. Their opponents, Sint Truiden have been ok at home, but going forward they’ve only scored just over a goal a game.

Finally, I’ve gone for a Hearts pairing in the midfield and attack. Andy Halliday returned to the starting line-up under interim manager Steven Naismith and put up a solid 22 AA points. I think he should have a solid chance at topping his L15 of 46 and has the potential for a decisive as well.

His teammate, Barrie McKay rounds out the team. Alongside the rest of the Hearts team he’s had a poor run of late, but I think they can bounce back in this one. Like Halliday, McKay also put up a really solid 20+ AA score in the first game under the new manager. He’s a bit of a risk with his L15 of 51, but I’m not too sure who else I like from my gallery.

Gameweek #363 Recap

A third threshold on the bounce for me despite Motherwell’s shock loss to Dundee United! Liam Scales started the weekend off well with a very respectable 49 points against Ross County.

On Saturday, I got away with one in the Motherwell game as they gave up a first half lead to Dundee United. Fortunately it didn’t do much damage to Paul McGinn and Sean Goss‘ scores as they both topped the 50 point mark.

Goalscorer Kevin van Veen did fantastically to add 20 AA on top of his goal to put the team in a fantastic position. Liam Kelly, unfortunately conceded a penalty to drop his score, but he put up a really decent 9 AA to comfortably secure the threshold.

After a few close weeks where I fell short of the 250 points early on, it’s nice to feel like fortune’s favoured my team this week. Liam Kelly could have killed the line-up, but van Veen’s 20 point AA score saved us. It was definitely a stroke of good luck as van Veen has only made it into double digit AA once this season, and even then it was only 11 points.

Fingers crossed the luck keeps up going forward!

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