FOOTBALL BETTING::
Betrescue Director David Russell gives his weekly preview of all the weekend’s top flight action in Scotland.
League leaders Rangers, now 8/13 (Totesport) to claim the SPL title, head to Parkhead on Sunday as Partybets’ 9/4 underdogs to overhaul second-placed Celtic. Tony Mowbray’s charges are Jaxx.com’s 11/8 shots to move within a point of Rangers following Sunday’s showdown, though punters have given the stalemate a noticeable body-swerve.
The reason? Only three of the last 28 Old Firm league duels have ended with honours even, a record which supports punters’ inclination to plumb for conclusive results. Bet365’s 3/1 for Celtic to enjoy a single goal margin of victory has proved popular, not least because they have scored first in 13 of their 17 league matches this term. A 1-0 home win is rated at 7/1 by Ladbrokes, though contrarian types may fancy Paddy Power’s 11/4 for it to finish as a score draw; Stan James price a 1-1 outcome at 11/2.
At 2/1 (Betfred) to beat Falkirk on Saturday, St Johnstone look over-priced, especially as they comfortably disposed of Falkirk as recently as October.
Though they were pegged back to 1-1 in that fixture, St Johnstone eventually ran out as 3-1 winners and punters expecting the goals to flow again can get 8/11 (888Sport) about the fixture yielding more than two. William Hill post a massive 12/1 in favour of a 2-0 away success, a result that would put St Johnstone over half-way en route to the season’s first target: 40 points.
As Dundee United have won four and drawn three of their last seven home league encounters with Aberdeen, it’s no surprise to see them priced at 10/11 (Victor Chandler) to secure three more points on Saturday. They beat the Dons 2-0 at Pittodrie as recently as October and though punters appear reluctant to back Aberdeen to reverse that result today, Betdaq’s 18/1 for the visitors to record a 2-0 victory might persuade them otherwise.
Finally, New Year victories look on the cards for Motherwell (evens, Stan James), St Mirren (5/4, Betfred) and Hibs (evens, Betdaq) at the expense of Hamilton, Kilmarnock and Hearts respectively.
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