This week we have the first of three back-to-back game weeks to end the Scottish Premiership season. The Old Firm teams don’t have anything to play for, but there is plenty of motivation in the rest of the top half. Aberdeen know a win at Hearts would guarantee them third place whilst Hibs and St Mirren continue to fight it out for third place.

In the bottom half, Motherwell are mathematically safe and Livingston essentially are as well. The remaining four sides still have lot to play for with just two teams guaranteed a spot in the Premiership next season. We should rotation from the Old Firm teams and possibly Motherwell and Livingston as well. It makes picking starters a little bit of minefield, but it does mean there should be some great value plays for Capped Mode if we can find them!

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

Heart-Aberdeen The weekend gets started with a hugely important game at Tynecastle. Realistically, Hearts need to take all three points here to give themselves a shot at overtaking Aberdeen for 3rd place. Aberdeen know a win here locks third place up for them and should guarantee them a spot in a European group stage next season. It’s a tough game to call Aberdeen have the form advantage, but Hearts have been much better at home than away this season.

Celtic-St Mirren After resting players for an Old Firm derby, we can be sure of seeing more rotation from Celtic this weekend. The tricky question is who will start in midfield and up front? Regardless of who plays, Celtic should be able to beat St Mirren who have won just two away games since January and lost 4-0 to Celtic the last time they visited Celtic Park.

Kilmarnock-St Johnstone St Johnstone come into this game on the back off just one win in their last nine games. Away to Kilmarnock I don’t fancy them changing that this week. Kilmarnock will be highly motivated knowing a win will keep them in the drivers seat for safety as they play the bottom two sides in the remaining two fixtures. I think Kilmarnock should have enough to win this one, and could well keep a clean sheet as well.

Livingston-Dundee United Livingston aren’t quite mathematically safe, but realistically they are. They’ve been disappointing since the start of 2023 and it’s hard to see much changing. However, they get a Dundee United side that is losing form at the worst moment. Defensively they were a shambles last week against Ross County and need to improve significantly if they want to stay up. It should be a close game, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a score draw.

Motherwell-Ross County Ross County have put together two wins on the bounce to pull themselves off bottom spot but now face a Motherwell side that are clearly the best team in the relegation group. Motherwell are now mathematically safe from relegation so there is some chance of rotation from them. However, I think Motherwell will look to finish the season strong and should have too much for Ross County in this one.

Hibernian-Rangers After earning an Old Firm win at the 6th and final attempt last weekend it’s fair to ask whether Rangers will rotate now they have nothing to play for. Hibernian, however, will be focused on keeping pace with Hearts to give themselves a shot at 4th place when the sides meet in the final week of the season. Even if they rotate Rangers should get the win, but there is definitely more of a chance at an upset than usual!

Goalkeepers

Samuel Walker*, Kilmarnock – Samuel Walker makes back-to-back appearance in the article as Kilmarnock get another solid home match-up. St Johnstone have been struggling all round recently and have failed to score in three of the last five games. Walker comes in at a middling 44 points and has the ability to best his cost without recording a clean sheet.

Liam Kelly*, Motherwell – Motherwell’s Liam Kelly is another one of my regular favourites and looks set for more success this week. Motherwell are a clear step above Ross County and shouldn’t be threatened too much in this one. Like Walker, Kelly comes in at a cost of 44 however he will most likely need a clean sheet to provide a positive return. It’s not a given as Ross County have scored in their last 4 away games, however, outside of an inconsistent Hearts side, they haven’t faced a team of Motherwell’s quality in that time.

Other Thoughts: Joe Hart* is worth a go even with rotation in front of him. Otherwise it’s pretty thin on the ground in the Premiership for goalkeepers this week. If you’re desperate Shamal George* isn’t a terrible option and is pretty cheap at 33, although he’s hard to trust given Livingston’s recent form.

Defenders

Anthony Ralston*, Celtic – There’s sure to be plenty of rotation at Celtic, but Anthony Ralston should be a pretty safe option. He’s deputised for the injured Alistair Johnson the last two weeks and put up a mixed couple of scores. Against Hearts he scored 67 with AA alone, whilst he put up just 37 in the 3-0 loss to Rangers last week. He should be much closer to the former this week and with an L15 cost of 51 he will be solid value.

Nathaniel Atkinson*, Hearts – With Hearts struggling against St Mirren last week, Atkinson came on at half-time and set up the first of Hearts two goals. There are some availability questions going into this week as well as James Hill went off injured and Alex Cochrane didn’t make the matchday squad last weekend. I think this will give Atkinson the opportunity to start at fullback on one side or the other. He’s really cheap at a 32 L15 and I think he should be able to put up a positive AA this week. You should definitely monitor any news coming out of Edinburgh this week, but I feel pretty confident he will start.

Other Thoughts: Lewis Mayo* remains a solid choice for a Kilmarnock defender. Alongside Ralston, Yuki Kobayashi should start for Celtic at a cost of 46 he’s great value. Morgan Boyes* at Livingston is a good option if he starts, it’s unclear whether he will after being benched last weekend. Paul McGinn* has been in great form for Motherwell recently, but I think he’s priced a little too high now to provide good value. I’d look at James Furlong for a Motherwell defender.

Midfielders

Daniel Armstrong*, Kilmarnock – Like his teammate, Walker, Armstrong makes back-to-back appearances in this article. He’s a fantastic scorer when Kilmarnock are at home and kindly scores poorly on the road to make him a great Cap Mode card. This week against St Johnstone he should have opportunities again to create and even score himself. He’s a touch expensive at 49, but scores 50+ more often than not when at Rugby Park.

Callum Slattery, Motherwell – My usual go to in the Motherwell midfield is Sean Goss, but his L15 is pretty high at the moment. Slattery, however, is much cheaper at 41 points. He can exceed that with AA, but generally needs a decisive to make it past 50 points. Against Ross County, there will be chances for Motherwell to score and with van Veen in such fine form you’d think there’d be opportunities for Slattery to get an assist as well.

Other Thoughts: Peter Haring‘s red card for Hearts was overturned on appeal and should start again in the centre of midfield. I will probably stay away from the Celtic midfield, but if you’re confident Tomoki Iwata or David Turnbull start they’ll be great value. Jason Holt* is solid value again at a 35 L15 cost.

Forwards

Lawrence Shankland, Hearts – Shankland is Hearts leading goalscorer with 23 goals and he scores the majority of them at Tynecastle. This weeks opponents, Aberdeen, give up the most penalties in the Premiership and Shankland takes them for Hearts. He is pretty expensive at 53, but I like his chances of grabbing a goal in this one, quite possibly from the penalty spot.

Oh Hyeon Gyu, Celtic – Oh Hyeon Gyu got a surprise start against Rangers last weekend and I think he should start again this week. Since arriving in January starts have been a little hard to come by for Oh but I think he should get some opportunities until the end of the season. This is a bit of a gamble with the rotation question marks, but I think he will start with Celtic having all eyes on the Scottish Cup final at the end of the season. At an L15 of 37 he’s great value this week if he does start.

Other Thoughts: Duk Lopes picked up a hamstring injury last weekend and it looks unlikely he’ll play against Hearts. Kevin van Veen* is in amazing form, but with an L15 of 60 he’s too expensive for Cap Mode. Alongside Shankland, Barrie McKay* is worth a look at Hearts. Finally, Livingston should score against Dundee United, so Joel Nouble and Bruce Anderson* are both worth considering.

My Cap 240 Line-Up

This weeks line-up feels very shaky to me, and is very much a first draft at this point. First off the secure options – Samuel Walker and Daniel Armstrong are played in Cap 240 for the second week in a row. With Killie being much stronger at home and St Johnstone not looking great they’re both easy picks.

Anthony Ralston is the third of the secure options, he should do well for Celtic and an L15 of 51 is low enough to provide solid value. After these three the options feel a lot more debatable.

Barrie McKay fills the forward position and has been a really solid AA scorer since Steven Naismith took over as manager. His L15 cost is 52 and he’s scored that or above in all 4 of Naismith’s games. He should have a good chance at hitting that mark again versus Aberdeen, but I don’t know how much upside he has.

The four above leaves me just 44 points to play with for the flex position. I have Morgan Boyes of Livingston in there for now, but it is a little bit of a gamble whether he starts or not. I don’t have many other viable options sub 45 points so I’m considering whether I can downgrade from McKay to free up a few extra points to upgrade Boyes.

Gameweek #371 Recap

Another solid week for me in Cap 240 and a fifth threshold racked up. It was pretty comfortable this week, hopefully one week I can get up into the card rewards!

The Kilmarnock duo of Samuel Walker and Daniel Armstrong both earned decisives. Walker got a clean sheet whilst Armstrong scored in a 2-0 victory over Livingston.

The Aberdeen duo had mixed results, however. Liam Scales racked up a really solid 56.8 points. But, Bojan Miovski put up just 31.0 points. This is the risk with Miovski, without a decisive he doesn’t score well and I was surprised there wasn’t a goal in the Aberdeen game.

Finally, Jens Toornstra rounded off the line-up with a solid performance for Utrecht. He recorded a great assist as he slid a pass through the lines to Anastasios Douvikas 15 minutes into the second half.

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