We preview week 19 of the Scottish Premier League as with all of the round’s matches set to get underway on Saturday 23 December.
Shock and horror – Celtic actually lost a game last week after being torn apart by Hearts at Tynecastle Park. The Bhoys are back in action this weekend Aberdeen in what will be the fixture of the weekend.
Elsewhere, Rangers will look to bounce back from a drubbing of their of their own when they travel to Kilmarnock while Partick Thistle will want to move off the bottom of the table when they host Hamilton.
Saturday 23 December
Kilmarnock 38/10 | Draw 29/10 | Rangers 6/10
Kilmarnock moved to within two points of the top six with a solid 1-0 over Motherwell at Rugby Park last weekend. It wasn’t all plain sailing for Killie, however, with Jamie MacDonald forced into making several excellent stops to keep his side in the game. Steve Clarke’s men are now undefeated in four games and will be looking forward to the arrival of Rangers this weekend.
Rangers were given a footballing lesson at the Ibrox by Motherwell at the weekend. Despite taking an early lead through an Alfredo Morelos strike, the Saints stormed back into the match scoring three unanswered goals largely thanks to some pretty awful Rangers defending. Last week’s defeat ended a run of five four straight wins for Rangers as they failed to capitalise on Celtic’s slip up against Hearts. Rangers to win here for me, by the narrowest of margins.
St. Johnstone 19/10 | Draw 21/10 | Hearts 29/20
The Saints were magnificent last week as they tore Rangers apart at the Ibrox. Steve Robinson will hope that the victory will serve as a catalyst for his side to really push on and begin a more consistent assault on the big three in the division.
They’ll go up against the other giant killers of week 18. Hearts probably got the result of the weekend across all of Europe’s major leagues as they snapped Celtic’s 69-game unbeaten league run to an end in a 4-0 thrashing. The win was Hearts’ third in a row as they start will look to leapfrog Hibs into fifth. Difficult one to call this. I do however, believe that Hearts should edge it. Away win at 29/20 here.
Celtic 7/20 | Draw 15/4 | Aberdeen 13/2
We can’t really talk too much about Celtic still have a midweek match against Partick Thistle at the time of writing.
Aberdeen finally managed to capitalise on Celtic dropping points after they beat Hibernian 4-1 at the weekend. The win saw them move into second on the standings, just three points behind Brendan Rodgers’ men. Celtic won’t make the same mistake twice in two weeks, back them to get back to winning ways here at 7/20.
Hibernian 5/10 | Draw 31/10 | Ross County 47/10
Hibs’ excellent mid-season form has all but abandoned them. They’ve only managed a single win in their last six matches and were unceremoniously thumped at Aberdeen last week. They do have an opportunity to get back on track this weekend though as lowly Ross County come calling.
Ross County haven’t won a match in their last six attempts. They were beaten last time out by fellow strugglers Hamilton as their relegation woes continue. One feels that they’ll struggle to deal with Hibs’ movement and flair in the final third. The home win is the only way to go here. Decent value at 5/10.
Partick Thistle 13/10 | Draw 9/4 | Hamilton 39/20
Another game that’s difficult to speak about as Partick Thistle have yet to play their midweek game at the time of writing. As it stands now, however, they’ve scored the fewest and conceded the most goals in the league and sit bottom of the standings. You really can’t see any other result other than an away win here.
Motherwell 23/20 | Draw 23/10 | Dundee 9/4
We round off this week’s action with an interesting tie between Motherwell and Dundee. The Steelmen have been pretty terrible of late, losing four on the spin. They were perhaps unlucky not to grab at least a point against Kilmarnock last weekend in a game they dominated for large periods of time.
Dee bounced back after two consecutive defeats against Aberdeen and Hearts with a straight-forward 3-0 win over Partick Thistle last weekend. They really have turned a corner after an awful start to the season saw them languishing adrift at the bottom of the standings. Neil McCann will fancy his side’s chances this weekend. Yet another away win on the cards here, get on Dundee.
