December is upon us and for the Scottish Premiership that means the start of the busiest part of the season. That’s great news for us from a Sorare respective as we can get plenty of utility from Scottish Premiership cards at a time when other leagues are taking breaks. Celtic for instance play in 9 of the next 10 game weeks! This weekend actually feels like a hard week than usual for Capped Mode. Outside of the two Old Firm sides, the remaining 4 games are all pretty evenly matched.

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

Kilmarnock-Hearts Kilmarnock have been a very strong home side again this year, losing only 1 of 7 and conceding just 5 goals. Their opponents this week aren’t a high scoring side, but, Hearts defensively sound. They are the only team outside the Old Firm to concede less than a goal a game. So I think we’re looking at a defensive, low scoring game with Kilmarnock the most likely to edge a win. It’s a game I’d like to target defenders and defence minded-midfielders in, probably one to shy away from the forwards if you can.

Livingston-Ross County It’s a big game in the relegation battle at the Tony Macaroni Arena this weekend. Bottom placed Livingston are on a run of 6 consecutive losses, and won’t get many better chances to snap their streak than this weekend. Ross County have been struggling as well but they did earned a big win against St Mirren midweek to take themselves 4 clear of Livingston. Neither team is great defensively, as you expect, while Livingston are also struggling in front of goal. It should be a hard fought game this weekend and one I like Livingston to get a goal in. In terms of the result, it could go either way.

Motherwell-Dundee Motherwell haven’t won in a long time, but a big point against Celtic could be the start of a revival. They rode their luck at time, but a point at Celtic Park is still nothing to sneer at. Dundee have been doing really well this season, but most of their success has come at home. Their only away win coming against bottom of the table Livingston. This is a great opportunity for Motherwell to build some momentum going into a hectic winter period, but it won’t be an easy game. It should be a close game given but I think Motherwell can earn themselves at least a point here and possibly even all three.

St Johnstone-Celtic A pretty obvious one here. Celtic the clear favourite against St Johnstone who have looked a bit better in recent weeks to be fair. However, Celtic have underperformed in some of these match-ups that looked very one sided on paper this season so there is a bit of risk there. Coming off a big Champions League tie there are also some questions about how they will line-up. Celtic players will be worth considering in Capped Mode this week for sure, and there’s a few reasonably priced options at the moment.

Hibernian-Aberdeen It’s a rematch of last month’s Viaplay Cup Semi Final at Easter Road this weekend. In that game Aberdeen ran out 1-0 winners over Hibs at Hampden Park thanks to a Bojan Miovski goal. Since then Hibs have been playing well, earning a 2-2 draw away to St Mirren before beating Dundee and Kilmarnock. For Aberdeen it’s been a bit of a tougher stretch, with a 6-0 loss to Celtic coming before a 1-1 draw against Rangers. There should be goals in this one, especially for Hibs. Even discounting the game against Celtic, Aberdeen give up 1.5 goals a game away from home. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Aberdeen score as well, but Hibs definitely have the advantage in this one.

Rangers-St Mirren 2nd face 3rd in the final game of the weekend, although the gulf between two is pretty clear. Before their first meeting of the season in Paisley St Mirren were unbeaten. Since losing 3-0 to Rangers they’ve lost 3 of 6 including all three away games. Rangers on the other hand have looked very strong under Phillippe Clement with last weekend’s draw with Aberdeen the only blemish on his Premiership record. This looks like a pretty obvious victory for Rangers, the real question is who will play for them. They play in the Europa League on Thursday night and have a big squad to rotate within. If you can find the starters, there should be strong options this weekend.

Goalkeepers

Shamal George*, Livingston – The biggest draw to Shamal George; he’s dirt cheap at 34 points against the cap. Livingston aren’t great defensively, but they have at least been much better at home than away. There is some risk he can drop a clanger if Ross County score 3. But this season Celtic are the only side to score three at Livingston. On balance he should be a solid option, that isn’t likely to kill you and has a reasonable shot at a clean sheet.

Liam Kelly*, Motherwell – There really aren’t any slam dunk options this week so I think taking cheaper options with some clean sheet potential is the play. With that in mind, I’m going with another cheaper option in Liam Kelly. Motherwell were undone by a late pen against Celtic last weekend, but Kelly gave a good account of himself including saving a penalty. Dundee are a tough draw, they’ve been playing well but have only scored 5 on the road this year. At 40 points Kelly won’t kill you if he avoids a negative decisive – whilst I think he may concede it’s pretty unlikely Dundee will score 3.

Other Thoughts: Will Dennis is worth a look from Kilmarnock, but at 51 points he needs the clean sheet. Joe Hart* should be a strong option against St Johnstone, but Celtic have let us down a few times this season. A goalless draw for Livingston wouldn’t be a huge surprise, Ross Laidlaw is worth a look if you have him. Otherwise, I’d steer clear of the Premiership goalkeepers if possible.

Defenders

Lewis Mayo*, Kilmarnock – He might not get decisives often, but when Kilmarnock play well Lewis Mayo can put up some really strong AA scores. In fact, when Killie keep a clean sheet he is usually a good bet for 50+ points. I think they have a decent chance at one playing Hearts at home, where Kilmarnock have been very solid defensively. Mayo costs 48 points in capped mode, so he is on the more expensive side for a defender. But, he also has some potential to get over 50 points if Hearts do score one goal.

Stephen O’Donnell, Motherwell – On the other side of the scale Motherwell’s Stephen O’Donnell is a very affordable 39 points against the cap. Like the majority of Motherwell players, he’s been on a poor run of Sorare scoring in recent weeks with a lot of negative AA performances. However, when Motherwell were playing well in August and September, O’Donnell was scoring well in the high 40s and 50s. Whilst Dundee have been playing well recently they’ve only won one away game this season so I like Motherwell to pick a result of some kind this weekend and give O’Donnell a good chance at outscoring his L15.

Other Thoughts: Lewis Miller is suspended this week, it was Paul Hanlon* who came off the bench when he was sent off. Livingston’s Sean Kelly* takes penalties making him the best option of the bunch. Alex Cochrane* was excellent last weekend for Hearts and is still just 41 points against the cap.

Midfielders

Joe Newell*, Hibernian – Joe Newell has been one of my favourite Capped Mode midfielders over the last year. He has a really strong AA floor thanks to taking the majority of set pieces for Hibs including a couple of 60+ scores in the past couple of months without a decisive. The set pieces help to give Newell plenty of AA potential as well, over the past year he averages just over 1 decisive in every 3 games. Aberdeen are conceding over two goals a game on the road so despite a cap cost of 55 I like Newell to put up another strong performance this weekend.

Beni Baningime*, Hearts – After a long injury lay-off, Beni Baningime is finally back to starting regularly for Hearts in the centre of midfield. Beni missed all of the 22/23 season, but back in the 21/22 he was a strong scorer. He did it predominantly through AA averaging over 50 points a game. He looks like he’s getting back to form after posting a 69 and a 72 in his last two games. Kilmarnock are a strong home side, but I think with Hearts’ strong defence we could see a cagey game where Baningime can rack up AA through tackles and interceptions.

Other Thoughts: Like Newell, Daniel Armstrong* is usually another strong options at home, although I think he has less decisive potential. Callum Slattery is suspended this weekend, I’d look at Calum Butcher for a budget option in the Motherwell midfield.

Forwards

Joel Nouble, Livingston – Livingston aren’t a high scoring side, they’ve only scored 9 goals this season and three of those were from the penalty spot. But, if they are going to score, at home to Ross County is a decent spot for it. Joel Nouble is definitely the pick of the Livingston forwards, he costs 43 against the cap and offers some potential for AA scoring as well as a decisive. He’s topped that mark four times without a decisive this season and added two of those as well. Trusting anyone from Livingston is a bit of a gamble, but Nouble gives you a couple of paths to success and shouldn’t produce too bad a score if the game doesn’t go to plan.

Dylan Vente, Hibernian – Dylan Vente is the safe option in the Hibs attack but he is entirely decisive dependant. He costs 44 points this week and without a goal or assist, he’s unlikely to get you past that. The game against Aberdeen offers a good opportunity for Hibs to score multiple goals, and hopefully Vente can play a part in one of them. If he doesn’t expect somewhere between 35 and 40 points which will at least keep a line-up alive.

Other Thoughts: It looks like Kyle Vassell should be back up top for Kilmarnock. In the Celtic attack, Kyogo* remains a good value option this weekend. Alongside Nouble, Bruce Anderson* is a nice budget option up top who could add a goal.

My Cap 240 Line-Up

Coming Soon…

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