This week looks like an excellent set of Premiership fixtures for Capped Mode on Sorare. We’ve got three home teams with strong match-ups on Saturday afternoon which will be great to target. On top of that we’ve got the two Old Firm sides playing against the struggling Edinburgh sides that will be worth looking at.

In the interest of openness, I do own cards some of the players I’m recommending (you can check out my gallery here) and I 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

Hibernian-Celtic It’s back-to-back trips to the capital for Celtic as they face Hibernian at Easter Road. Last week they had an easy 3-1 win over Hearts at Tynecastle and they’ll be hoping for a similar outing this weekend. Hibs were actually in Glasgow last weekend as they were embarrassed by Rangers in a 4-0 loss. They have usually been good for a goal this season and Celtic haven’t been the most solid defensively this year, so I think we could see goals from both sides in that one. Despite that, it should be a comfortable Celtic win, and one where we can target their more affordable attack minded players.

Livingston-Dundee Cash-strapped Livingston host Dundee this weekend and will be hopeful of notching their third win of the year. Dundee have made a decent start to life in the Premiership, but they haven’t had much success away from home. They’ve failed to win away from home so far and have scored just 3 goals in 4 games. Similarly, Livingston have only scored 3 goals in their 4 home games to date. So, we might be looking at a low scoring affair in this one. Definitely a game to target defenders over forwards in capped mode!

Motherwell-Ross County Motherwell will be hoping to get back on track this weekend as they host Ross County. After strong start, the Well have lost 4 on the bounce, although that run did include playing both Old Firm sides. Motherwell have been a bit shy of goals this season, but they’re starting to get healthier up front and will Mika Bierith available this week. Ross County have given up plenty on the road this season, conceding 8 goals in 3 games, so I expect we will see goals from Motherwell. In fact I think they have a pretty good shot at a win-to-nil.

St Mirren-St Johnstone St Mirren have been the surprise package of the season to date. They suffered their first loss of the season before the international break then were rained off last weekend. They’ll be expecting to get back on track against fellow Saints, St Johnstone. Winless St Johnstone have been particularly poor away from home, through four games on the road they’ve failed to score a single goal. They are getting a bit healthier, but it’s hard to see St Johnstone taking any points against St Mirren.

Kilmarnock-Aberdeen Kilmarnock had the biggest home/away split in their performances last season and that trend is continuing this season. They’ve picked up 8 points at home this season and just two away. Aberdeen had a slow start to the season, but found some form before the international break taking 7 points from their last three games. I think this should be a close fought game between two solid teams – I’d lean towards a Killie win more than an Aberdeen win if I had to, but a draw feels likely.

Rangers-Hearts It was good start to life at Rangers for Philippe Clement as he recorded a great 4-0 win against Hibs last week. This week Rangers host the other Edinburgh side and will be confident of another strong performance. Hearts’ position in the table doesn’t look too bad, but the performances have disappointed this season. Manager, Steven Naismith, looks to be the next Premiership manager on the hot seat and desperately needs to put some results together. Unfortunately, for Naismith it doesn’t seem likely this week. Another Rangers win-to-nil seems the most likely outcome.

Goalkeepers

Zach Hemming, St Mirren – It’s low hanging fruit, but taking goalkeepers at home against St Johnstone seems a pretty good bet this season. Despite a strong start to the season, St Mirren haven’t been the most secure at the back. They’ve kept two clean sheets in 8 games and concede 10 goals in the Premiership this season. However, St Johnstone have failed to score away from home and don’t look particularly threatening so they won’t get a better chance at a third clean sheet. Hemming isn’t much of an AA scorer for St Mirren, he hasn’t scored more the 36 points without a decisive. As a result, Hemming is pretty affordable at 44 points but he will need to get that clean sheet to provide a positive return on his cost.

Liam Kelly*, Motherwell – Liam Kelly hasn’t done an awful lot for Sorare managers this season. He managed a clean sheet against Hearts in early September and otherwise has reached 50 points with AA once this season. This week Motherwell host Ross County who played out a 0-0 draw at Dundee on Tuesday and have failed to score in three of their last four games. I expect Motherwell to control this game, so I wouldn’t expect much in the way of AA from Kelly. He comes in at a cost of 47 points and a clean sheet is likely need to provide a good return. But he has scored 37+ points in every game this season, so he likely won’t kill your line-up if he does concede.

Other Thoughts: There’s a chance we see Craig Gordon* return from injury this week and would be a free square in Capped Mode. Shamal George* against Dundee is a great budget option at home to Dundee. Joe Hart* against Hibs is the other obvious choice in goal. If you’re short of options, Trevor Carson* isn’t the worst option available. Otherwise I’d try to steer clear of the other Premiership keepers if you can.

Defenders

Stephen O’Donnell, Motherwell – Stephen O’Donnell plays somewhere between a right wing-back and a right midfielder for Motherwell. There’s a fair bit of volatility in his scores, but when Motherwell play well he can put up some pretty big AA scores on the back of his attacking output. Against Ross County, Motherwell should be on the front-foot for the most part. So we can expect O’Donnell to get forward plenty and put some balls into the box. He is a pretty cheap investment at 43 points, so there’s plenty of scope for him to outperform that.

Marcus Fraser, St Mirren – Marcus Fraser plays as part of a back three for St Mirren. He’s capable of some decent scores, but he’s pretty up and down based on how St Mirren do as a team. Hosting St Mirren, you’d expect them to do well this week and hopefully a strong score from Fraser follows. Fraser is 36 points this week and he’s surpassed that mark in each of his last 6 games. Either way at that price Fraser isn’t going to kill your chances of a threshold.

Other Thoughts: If you’re looking for a more stable option from Motherwell, Paul McGinn* is your man. Scott Tanser plays as wing back for St Mirren and should take plenty of set pieces this week with Ryan Strain suspended. Sean Kelly* has scored penalties in each of his three games since returning from injury, it’s hard to rely on that going forward. I’d rather have James Penrice in the Livingston defence.

Midfielders

Jason Holt*, Livingston – After being in and out of the starting XI last season, Jason Holt has been ever-present for Livingston this season. He had a slow start from a Sorare perspective, but has put up solid AA scores over the last few games. He comes in at 43 points against the cap and has topped that mark in 4 of the last 5 and topped 50 in 3 of those. This week at home to Dundee, Livingston will hope to control the game which should give Holt a good chance at putting up another strong AA score.

Daniel Armstrong*, Kilmarnock – We’re back to an old favourite in Danny Armstrong this week. After featuring him in this spot last week, he recorded two decisive and an excellent 86 point score at home to Livingston. In another home game against Aberdeen, Armstrong is an easy include again despite a high point cost. Armstrong costs 56 points this week, but alongside a strong AA floor he has great decisive potential both from open play and taking set pieces. Aberdeen have improved in recent weeks, but they will be coming off a big game in the Europa Conference on Thursday so may have some tired legs. Kilmarnock should have their fair share of possession in this one and Armstrong is the most likely to do something with it. The value is a little lower that usual at his high price point, but I still think there’s some value there this week.

Other Thoughts: Motherwell’s Blair Spittal and Callum Slattery have both been excellent this season and should be good options this week. I’m not feeling confident with the Rangers midfield still. Cifuentes* missed out last weekend, but was returning from international duty in South America. Todd Cantwell returning to fitness complicates things as well. Mark O’Hara has goals in him as the penalty taker for St Mirren.

Forwards

Daizen Maeda, Celtic – Daizen Maeda remains the budget way to access the Celtic attack. He actually scored last weekend, but also had an error leading to a goal. Not the best for my Cap 240 team, but great to keep his L15 down at least. He costs 46 points against the cap and offers a bit of AA alongside his decisive potential this season. Against Hibs Celtic have a great chance at scoring multiple goals and getting one of their starting forwards for under 50 points is a solid value.

Abdallah Sima, Rangers – Abdallah Sima is the in form man in the Rangers attack and scored twice in their first game under Phillipe Clement. In fact he’s scored in each of his last 5 starts for the club. At home to a pretty ropey Hearts side, Rangers should be looking to score multiple goals again this week. At a cost of 47 points, Sima should be great value if he starts which is the real question. At the time of writing Rangers haven’t played their midweek Europa League game yet and we don’t know how/if Clement will rotate his squad for that game or the Hearts game at the weekend. I’d look out for any information from post-match interviews on Thursday and press conferences on Friday morning before locking Sima into your line-up.

Other Thoughts: Kyle Vassell is the more likely to score for Kilmarnock, but Marley Watkins* is a very cheap alternative if you want to spend more points elsewhere. I’d steer clear of the St Mirren forwards, it’s too hard to pick a starter in my eyes. The same is true of Motherwell with them starting to get options back from injury. Joel Nouble is by far the better AA scorer for Livingston, but it’s Bruce Anderson* with more decisive upside.

My Cap 240 Line-Up

Coming Soon…

GW #417 Recap

Easily my best performance in Cap 240 to date, earning a threshold and Tier 3 card as well. The card was L Rioja of Alaves in La Liga, pretty disappointing really. He has some good scores over the last year, but they almost all came last season when Alaves were playing in La Liga 2. I think he’ll most likely be one to sell.

I made a late switch from Liam Kelly to Warleson in goal, due to the heavy rain in the North of Scotland putting games in doubt. Motherwell’s game was cancelled and Warleson put up a monster score thanks to a clean sheet and the rare goalkeeper decisive!

In defence it was a really solid AA score for Jamal Lewis despite an early scare that he’d conceded a penalty! It was less impressive from fellow defender in a midfield card, Javier Aquino. I was hopeful on Tigres keeping a clean sheet, but it’s still a bit disappointing Aquino couldn’t add more AA.

Daniel Armstrong was my second strong scorer in the line-up on the back of two decisives against Livingston. With the captain bonus on him, his 110 point score went accounted for almost a third of the points on offer.

Finally, it looked really hopeful for Daizen Maeda after he scored for Celtic. But he committed an error leading to a goal in the second half to take away all his good work.

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.