The Scottish Premiership got off to an exciting start last weekend as 16 goals were scored across the 6 games. Perhaps most importantly Celtic took an early lead in the title race after Rangers fell to a 1-0 defeat to Kilmarnock. In the second round of fixtures we have an even split of games between Saturday and Sunday with Aberdeen and Celtic being televised in the UK on Sunday lunchtime. Sorare-wise, we look a bit short of quality goalkeepers this weekend, but hopefully we’ll get the new season cards released soon!

Before the league games get underway we have three sides playing in European qualifiers this mid-week.  Rangers host Swiss side Servette at Ibrox on Wednesday. Whilst on Thursday Hibs host fellow Swiss team Luzern and Hearts travel to Norway to face Rosenborg. So, we’ll need to keep an eye out for any injuries or rotation for these teams. With the Game Week lock moving back to 3pm UK time, we should be able to see the manager press conferences to help inform the decision. 

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-Livingston Rangers fell to a surprise defeat to Kilmarnock in the opening game of the season. They’ll expect to bounce back immediately as they host Livingston at Ibrox. Livingston managed a strong home draw against Aberdeen in the first game of the season, but they’re a much weaker side away from home. This is definitely a week to play any Rangers players you have!

Ross County-St Johnstone Both Ross County and Saint Johnstone got their seasons started with two goal losses. Ross County actually gave a decent account of themselves as they lost 4-2 to Celtic, whilst St Johnstone were poor against Hearts. On paper it looks like one to favour Ross County in, but St Johnstone were actually a stronger team on the road than at home last season. I expect a close game, and probably a low scoring one.

St Mirren-Dundee St Mirren play their home opener against newly-promoted Dundee. St Mirren picked up an excellent away win against Hibs in the first game of the year and looked better than the 3-2 scoreline suggests. Dundee also had a positive start to the season earning a solid point at home against Motherwell. Trevor Carson should get his first start for Dundee against his old club, but I think he’ll come away disappointed at full time.

Aberdeen-Celtic Celtic put 4 past Ross County in the first game of the season, but they looked shaky at the back and could have conceded more than 2 on another day. This weeks match-up away to Aberdeen is possibly the toughest match-up outside of the Old Firm in the league. With that in mind, this is going to be a match-up to (mostly) ignore for Capped Mode. It’s obviously a bad spot for Aberdeen and Celtic players shouldn’t score as well as usual.

Hearts-Kilmarnock Kilmarnock got their season off to a fantastic start by beating Rangers 1-0 at Rugby Park. They were a very strong home team last season, but shocking on the road. On paper it looks like a comfortable game for a Hearts side that eased past St Johnstone 2-0 last weekend. The major question is how they will line-up with this game coming between two Europa Conference qualifying games against Rosenborg.

Motherwell-Hibernian Finally, Motherwell host Hibs in the final game of the weekend. Motherwell managed a score draw away to Dundee in the first game of the season and will be hopefully of more in this one. Hibs might have made it through in the Europa qualifiers, but they conceded goals to an Andorran side in both games. They followed that up with 3-2 loss at home to St Mirren, a scoreline which certainly flattered them. Motherwell scoring feels like a formality in this one, and I’d back them to take all three points.

Goalkeepers

Zander Clark, Hearts – Hearts have possibly the best goalkeeper match-up of the season at home to Kilmarnock. Killie scored just 11 goals in 19 away games last season, and don’t look to have made any big additions up front. Clark’s L15 is currently 37, so even if Kilmarnock do manage a goal outscoring his L15 is definitely a possibility.

Ross Laidlaw, Ross County – Ross County aren’t usually a team to target for a clean sheet, but, with St Johnstone’s poor form to start the season this could be the week. St Johnstone had under 40% possession at home to Hearts last weekend and didn’t threaten much. Laidlaw comes it at a very affordable 43 points and can outscore that even if he concedes a goal.

Other Thoughts: Otherwise it’s a bit thin on the ground for goalkeepers this week. Liam Kelly* is probably the best of the rest with cards. Joe Hart* and Trevor Carson* aren’t terrible choices either, but the rest are pretty unusable this weekend.

Defenders

Anthony Ralston*, Celtic – Anthony Ralston is the one Celtic player I like in Capped Mode this week. Ralston is currently filling in for the injured Alistair Johnson on the right side of defence. His L15 is pretty low at 44 thanks to a couple of negative decisives and a sub appearance at the end of last season. He put up 25 points of AA score last week, despite Celtic conceding 2 goals, so I have no concerns about his ability to beat his L15 this week.

Stephen Kingsley, Hearts – Kingsley has started the season playing at left back in place of the suspended Alexander Cochrane. He got off to a great start with a 71 point score against St Johnstone without a decisive. Whilst a repeat of that might not be too likely, he shouldn’t have any issues outscoring his 39 point cost.

Other Thoughts: Nathaniel Atkinson* is also worth considering for Hearts. Scott Tanser could put up solid scores for St Mirren in a solid match-up. Ross County’s George Harmon would pair nicely with Ross Laidlaw and has ability to put up 50+ points with AA alone.

Midfielders

Ryan Strain*, St Mirren – Ryan Strain plays as right wing-back/midfielder for Saint Mirren, and gets a really strong match-up at home to newly-promoted Dundee. Strain also has the benefit of taking a lot of set pieces to gather more AA and increase his decisive potential. St Mirren should see plenty of the ball against Dundee and Strain should have ample opportunities to get forward. Whilst he can do well with AA, he typically struggles to outscore his L15 of 48 without a decisive. But when he hits one 70+ scores are pretty possible, on paper this is one of the best match-ups to get one.

Callum Slattery, Motherwell – Callum Slattery looks set to be a permanent fixture in the Motherwell midfield this season. He was in and out of the starting line-up over the second half of last season resulting in a very affordable L15 of 44. He’s more than capable of beating that with AA alone and in a good match-up against Dundee there’s some potential for a decisive as well.

Other Thoughts: I think we could see Jose Cifuentes* start for Rangers, if he does he should smash his 41 point L15. Yan Dhanda looked impressive for Ross County last weekend and should have plenty of opportunities again this weekend. Celtic’s David Turnbull was a surprise starter over Reo Hatate last weekend and was fantastic, scoring 2 goals. If he start again he should beat his 45 L15 – although it wouldn’t be a shock if Hatate plays this week.

Forwards

Lawrence Shankland, Hearts – Goals for Hearts feels like a given against Kilmarnock. So, let’s not overthink it and go with Lawrence Shankland. After scoring 21 league goals last season, he got his first of this season in injury time against St Johnstone. He might be pretty expensive at 56 points, but he’s as good a bet as anyone to score this weekend.

Mikael Mandron, St Mirren – Mikael Mandron was set to start for St Mirren last weekend before injuring himself in warm-ups. If he’s fit to start this week, I think he has a great shot at a goal against the porous Hibs defence. Whether he does start is the big question, I’d keep an eye on the St Mirren press conference during the week before playing him. If he does start, outscoring 39 points should be pretty likely.

Other Thoughts: If you can work out who’s going to start up front for Motherwell there should be some value there. Theo Bair got a goal last weekend but we could see Jonathan Obika or Mika Bierith start instead. Yutaro Oda impressed for Hearts last week and should be good value again. There’s plenty of value in the Rangers forwards, Danilo in particular if he earns a start.

My Cap 240 Line-Up

Week two and again I don’t feel too confident in my gallery this week – especially in goal. It’s back to Liam Kelly again this weekend who does get a home matchup at least. Hibs put two goals past St Mirren last weekend, but they didn’t look great for large parts of the game. Kelly’s L15 is down to 46, but he’ll still likely need a clean sheet to beat that mark.

I’ve paired him with his teammate Paul McGinn, who is set to start in the centre of defence. McGinn has been a excellent SO5 scorer since Stuart Kettlewell took over at Motherwell. He does come in at a pretty pricey 55 points, but he can exceed that with AA alone and has done in 7 of his last 10 games.

In midfield I’m taking a gamble on Jose Cifuentes starting at this point. If he does, he should smash his L15 at home to Livingston. However, I’ll be keeping an eye on how Rangers line-up in the Champions League qualifiers and what Michael Beale has to say in the press conferences on Friday. If he doesn’t look like starting, I’ll need to swap him out to guarantee a starter.

Upfront I’m straying away from the Scottish Premiership and taking Newcastle’s Joelinton. The match-up against Aston Villa isn’t the greatest, but Newcastle are at home at least. Joelinton should have a pretty attacking role in the Newcastle midfield this season and can score decent AA scores in addition to decisives.

Finally, I’ve got Anthony Ralston to round out the team. As mentioned earlier his L15 has been brought down by sub appearance and negative decisives. But he should have good chance at beating that even if Celtic concede to Aberdeen this weekend.

GW #395 Recap

Not the start to the season I was hoping for!

Liam Kelly didn’t manage the clean sheet we needed against Dundee despite facing just two shots on target. I wasn’t feeling too confident in the clean sheet and as expected he couldn’t put up enough AA to make up for it.

Hibs were very disappointing against St Mirren and it was compounded for me by Joe Newell conceding a first half penalty. In defence it was alway going to be tricky for Paul Hanlon to put up a good score when Hibs conceded 3 goals.

On the plus side Jason Holt put up a decent score at home to Aberdeen. My one non Scottish player, Olivier Deman, also did well managing just shy of 60 points.

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