The big question on everyone’s lips this week; will Rangers give Celtic a Guard of Honour at Ibrox? I suspect not as Rangers seek their first win in an Old Firm game this season. Elsewhere in the top half, the race for the European places is still very much alive.

In the bottom half, 12th faces 10th in a hugely important battle in the fight to avoid relegation. In the other fixtures Motherwell and Livingston could mathematically secure their place in the top flight next season. A St Johnstone victory would all but seal their place as well. With a lot to play for throughout the league, there is no concerns of squad rotation this week as we search for Capped Mode value plays.

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 I recommend you do your own research when picking up players.

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The Games

Rangers-Celtic The 6th and final Old Firm derby of the season and this one with nothing to play for but pride. After 4 losses and a draw so far, Rangers will be desperate to win one to take some positive sentiment into the summer. In fact, they’ve failed to beat Celtic in their last 9 meetings as their last victory came at the start of the 2021/22 season. The hardest opponent in the league for each team, so a game to avoid for Capped Mode in general.

Aberdeen-Hibernian Aberdeen have just given a good account of themselves in back-to-back games against Rangers. This weeks opponents are much less of a threat, although they have picked up some results on the road in the last few months. Aberdeen will be the clear favourites in this one after winning their last 4 home games to nil and I can’t see much chance of them losing this one either.

St Mirren-Hearts St Mirren’s loss to Hibs last week takes European qualification out of their hands. However, they can keep the pressure on the Edinburgh sides with a win in this one. St Mirren have been really strong at home this season, whilst Hearts have struggled on the road and have lost 5 on the bounce. It should be one that St Mirren can win, although Hearts will have a lot of motivation knowing a loss here would likely end their hopes of 3rd place.

Dundee United-Ross County Ross County remain bottom of the league despite a must-have victory at home to Livingston. They have closed the gap to 1 point to Dundee United in 10th place, and know a win here could see them sitting safe with 3 to play. Dundee United fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat away to St Johnstone last week and will have this marked as a must-win game in their fight for survival. Ross County don’t score much on the road, just 11 goals this season (2nd worst in the league) so it is advantage Dundee in this one. I’m not necessarily convinced they’ll keep a clean sheet, but I don’t think they’ll lose this one.

Kilmarnock-Livingston With their two closest rivals playing each other, Kilmarnock have a great chance to pull at least 3 clear of relegation. They face a Livingston side that have been struggling for months, especially on the road, as evidenced by last weekends loss to Ross County. With Killie’s strong home form I think they will win this one to keep them in with a chance at survival.

St Johnstone-Motherwell St Johnstone’s win over Dundee United last week allowed them to pull 5 clear of the relegation play-off spot in 11th. A win in this one would likely see them safe from relegation with 3 games to go, although not mathematically. Motherwell eased past Kilmarnock last weekend at home and will see this as another game they can take 3 points in to finish the season strong. The last time the two teams met at Rugby Park, it ended as a 1-1 draw back in February and I think it will be another close game this time.

Goalkeepers

Trevor Carson, St Mirren – Trevor Carson and St Mirren host Hearts this weekend, a team they beat 2-0 in Edinburgh just 6 weeks ago. Hearts have struggled to score on the road recently, just two goals in the last 5, and I think they should struggle again here. Carson costs 42 and should require the clean sheet to out perform that. With one goal conceded I’d expect him to fall in the 35-40 range, so he wouldn’t kill your team then either.

Samuel Walker*, Kilmarnock – Samuel Walker should have some potential for a clean sheet hosting Livingston. He also scores really well in AA, so he can beat his L15 cost of 42 that way as well. Livingston have lost their last 6 away games to nil, so it’s unlikely they will score more than one if they can even manage that! I think Walker is probably my favourite of all the goalkeepers in the Premiership this week.

Other Thoughts: Mark Birighitti is worth a look with Ross County scoring so few away from home. Liam Kelly* is a decent option in the hunt for a clean sheet as well, as St Johnstone haven’t scored more than one goal in a game since Febraury. Kelle Roos has a decent chance at a clean sheet but at an L15 of 66(!) he’s far too expensive to provide value.

Defenders

Liam Scales*, Aberdeen – Liam Scales has thrived since returning from a red-card suspension back in February. He comes in at a cost of 48 and has met or exceeded that mark in each of his last 6 starts. With Aberdeen performing so well at home recently, I think he should meet that mark, at a minimum, via AA score alone.

Aziz Behich*, Dundee United – Dundee United will be looking to attack from the off to put Ross County under pressure and that bodes well for Aziz Behich. Despite being listed as a defender on Sorare, Behich plays a left winger for Dundee and should have opportunities to create chances this week. He already has seven decisives this season, but he can also score well without one.

Other Thoughts: Lewis Mayo* continues to be a really strong option when Kilmarnock are at home. Andrew Considine* was a featured defender last week and should be solid again this week – his L15 remains low at 39. Away to Rangers, Yuki Kobayashi is the only Celtic defender worth considering although I don’t think there’s much value there either.

Midfielders

Daniel Armstrong*, Kilmarnock – Daniel Armstrong has been one of my favourite midfielder for Cap Mode when Kilmarnock play at home. This week is no different, especially against a struggling Livingston side. Armstrong has an L15 cost of 48, and typically hits 50+ when playing at home. Against Livingston, I think he should hit that with AA alone and he has a good chance at grabbing a decisive as the creative spark of the team.

Ryan Duncan, Aberdeen – Youngster Ryan Duncan has had a decent run in the first team of late, starting the last 4 games for Aberdeen. Thanks to having been used a substitute previously, his L15 is down at a very affordable 31 points. Since starting he’s outscored that by 5+ points in 3 of 4 games, and fell under once. In a game Aberdeen should control, I like him to score a positive AA and provide nice value in capped competitions.

Other Thoughts: Ylber Ramadani is another name at Aberdeen worth a look, he’s been a bit off the boil the last few weeks on Sorare but he has been solid value at home all season. At St Mirren, Greg Kiltie has done pretty well recently when he starts, although that is a bit hard to predict though.

Forwards

Curtis Main, St Mirren – Curtis Main continues to lead the line for St Mirren and with Tony Watt done for the year there isn’t really anyone to challenge him. On Sorare he is a decisive dependant option with almost no AA game, but he has been on a good run with 4 in his last 6. Hearts have been pretty dreadful away from home recently so he should have a decent chance at grabbing one this week.

Christian Doidge, Kilmarnock – Kilmarnock’s Christian Doidge is another decisive-dependant option up top. Kilmarnock should be able to score at home to Livingston and Doidge is their top goalscorer since the turn of the year, albeit with just 3 goals to his name. His L15 isn’t too high at 41, so if he doesn’t get a decisive he will set you back but won’t completely kill a line-up.

Other Thoughts: Aberdeen v Hibs sees the two teams that concede the most penalties face off. Bojan Miovski* and Kevin Nisbet* are the penalty takers for each side, I’d favour Miovski if he’s fit to play.

My Cap 240 Line-Up

This week I’m going big on Kilmarnock players in their game at home to Livingston, starting with Samuel Walker in goal. He’s one of the few keepers in Scotland that can score well with AA alone and he has a decent shot at a clean sheet as well!

Joining him is Rangers-loanee, Lewis Mayo, in defence and Danny Armstrong in midfield. Mayo has done really well on Sorare during his loan spell, especially when Killie are at home. As mentioned above. I’m a big fan of Armstrong at home so he was a no brainer!

Up top I’ve got Bojan Miovski in for now. He takes penalties and has been getting some from open play recently as well. I’ll be checking his injury status through the week and might need to swap him out if there isn’t confirmation he’s fit to start!

Finally, I’ve gone with Jens Toornstra of Utrecht again. He’s a solid AA scorer that can grab the odd decisive as well. This week Utrecht host RKC Waalwijk who are doing pretty well in 8th, but have won just 2 games away from home this season.

Gameweek #369 Recap

The final phase of the Premiership has got off to a great start in Cap 240 although it was a close call in the end.

Motherwell goalkeeper, Liam Kelly, was the star performer as he kept a clean sheet against Kilmarnock. He topped that off with a rare GK assist in injury time for another (much needed) 10 points.

Paul McGinn also kept up his end of the bargain with a solid 56 points. The final Motherwell player, Sean Goss did not. I expected he would put up a solid AA score, but disappointingly he barely improved on the base 35 points.

Kevin Nisbet had a surprisingly solid AA performance despite missing a big chance for Hibs. Finally, Jens Toornstra had a very quiet game going forwards by his standards, just a solitary penalty area entry, despite Utrecht being well in control of Cambuur.

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