I POSTED last week a preview of the week ahead and on the whole the return to competitive football this week has been pretty good to punters with the UCL, Europa League qualifiers and friendlies delivering plenty of winners.
The only disappointment was the Betfred Cup with Mr F rightly pointing out to keep stakes sensible this early in the competition.
I've had a good look through this week's card and it's another busy week:
Monday
- A couple of games from the Nordic leagues but other than that not much standing out – likely to be a no bet day.
Tuesday
- My focus will be on 11 matches in the Scottish Betfred Cup – Dundee United away to Stenhousemuir and St Johnstone at Montrose the games I've picked out so far.
- There are 42 friendlies from the continent and 42 matches involving the English lower league and non-league sides. Some of these will be laden with goals.
- There are also 9 games from the European qualifiers.
Wednesday
- Ten UCL qualifiers including Celtic's second leg against Sarajevo which should be a comfortable home win for Neil Lennon's side.
- We have another 5 games from the Betfred Cup and a whole host of friendly matches.
Thursday
- Thursdays in July are all about the Europa League qualifiers and they were great to punters last week. Second-leg ties may be a bit trickier with some clubs all but through after big first-leg wins. Still plenty of opportunities though.
- Rangers host St Joseph's and after a 4-0 win away in Gibraltar you have to fancy Steven Gerrard's side to dish out a hammering, Finding value will be hard but Rangers over 4.5 goals should land. It's 10-11 but certainly won't be come kick-off. Rangers -3 also appeals at 5-6.
Friday
- Dundee United host Cowdenbeath and Motherwell welcome Morton in the Betfred Cup.
Saturday
- Another round of Betfred Cup matches with Hibs at home to Alloa the pick of the bunch in terms of goals.
- One hundred plus friendlies as the pre-season steps up a notch.
Sunday
- Norway Division One.
There are of course loads of other matches from across the world but these are the ones I'll be focusing on
Early Bird:
- Rangers -3
- 5/6 (Bet365) (NAP)
- Rangers over 4.5 goals
- 10/11 (Bet365)
I'm a St Johnstone diehard and football tipster from Perth, now living in Glasgow. I've been writing football previews and tips for Mr Fixit since 2015, with in-depth knowledge of Scottish football and betting markets, particularly goals and corners markets. You’ll often find me conversing on Twitter @GregBrowning84.
Yes good preview again mate. As I said last week good to have another scot who knows our country’s leagues. You are up there with Mr fixit and Mark walker who always does excellent write ups and tips in the racing post
Thanks mate – the Scottish leagues will be my main focus again this season
Trying to get an early feel but sides who I think will be worth backing
Cove Rangers – expecting them to do well, they Are set up for automatic promotion
Airdrie – a lot of new signings and with some of their players employed full time it should make a difference
Dundee United have recruited well and absolutely must win that league
Rangers should be skelping teams at home – something they didn’t do enough last season
Should be a big gap between the Top 5 clubs in the Scottish Premiership and the rest. The smaller clubs are going to struggle to compete I feel, especially when you see Hibs and Aberdeen actually spending money on transfer fee’s.
Agree with you. Dundee United have no excuses this year. Getting shankland from my team, Ayr United a big boost. He has already started scoring for fun. We will miss his goals. Cove will go well now they are a senior league team. Dominated Highland league for years. I can see Falkirk bossing league 1. Far too big for that league. They have held on to their best players and also recruited well.
You’ve certainly not missed his goals so far 😂 Moffat and Doolan steeping up to the plate
Doolan a really good signing
Yeah should be a solid group of sides to back – Ayr without sounding patronising will be focusing to ensure they are nowhere near 9th or 10th and hopefully battle for a play off spot.
Well that’s it Greg. But I think I could have scored v Berwick to be fair. It will be a struggle this season. Ayr punched above their weight last year and ran out of steam at the end. Top 6 finish for St. Johnstone you think?
Haha very true mate – if Ayr can be in with a shout of the play offs right up towards the end of the season it would be a terrific campaign.
Like you say, over achieved last season and Shankland played a big part in that
There’s one place left for the top 6, Killie favourites after last season, and Motherwell will need to hope their new boys replace the players they’ve lost. We should be there or thereabouts.
Agree you with about Cove – they’ll be challenging for the title.
Rangers look to have done better transfer business than Celtic but plenty of time left – at the moment I wouldn’t want to call it.
Spoke to a couple of Rangers fans at today’s game and while it was only a friendly they were well impressed.
St. Johnstone are usually consistent and end to finish strong. Good luck for the new season.
Sorry I meant to say good preview