THE pressure has eased on Celtic after Aberdeen crashed to a shock defeat at Hearts. How they must hate playing sick teams.
My tips on the game landed – both to score at 10-11 and Simon Church at 9-5 – and Celtic will feel much better about themselves as they face a tough test at Motherwell.
Mark McGhee's men have been the scourge of the big guns this season. They beat Aberdeen 2-1 at home last month and won at Parkhead just before Christmas.
Well are the Premiership's form side and five wins in a row have all but sealed a top-six slot that looked out of reach a few weeks ago.
With the pressure off the Fir Park men are sure to test a Celtic side who looked pedestrian as they drew 0-0 at Dundee in midweek.
Well are a huge 8-1 at Betway to shock Celtic for second time this season and look value at 5-1 with McBookie and Ladbrokes on the draw no bet market.
Celtic are no bigger than 2-5 at Ladbrokes and McBookie to win and I don't know many who would regard that as value.
Well's win against Celtic and the Dons were both by 2-1 and a repeat of that pays 15-2 at McBookie and William Hill.
Louis Moult has netted five in six games and is 10-3 at bet365 to score at any time.
By contrast Leigh Griffiths has gone off the boil with four games without a goal including his start for Scotland against Denmark. He is 5-7 at 888sport to end his mini drought – his longest spell this campaign without a goal.
McBookie.com are offering 40-1 Motherwell, St Johnstone and Dundee will all cement their top-six status with a win. As the league gets ready for the split six teams are still in with a chance of making the top half of the table.
Spokesman Paul Petrie said: “Amazingly even Motherwell in fourth might slip out of the top six although that works out at around a 16-1 chance. Partick Thistle and Ross County will be hoping for results to go their way but it should be a fascinating day.”
Dundee United continue to fight to beat the drop but time's running out. They missed a chance to close the gap on Kilmarnock in midweek when they crashed 1-0 at Partick Thistle.
Mixu Paatelainen's men must take something from Inverness and while they'd love three points may have to settle for one.
Both meetings this season have been score draws as have three of the last five at Tannadice. Another score draw pays 15-4 at McBookie while United are a best 5-4 with the Scots firm to notch a win.
Ex-ICT hitman Billy Mckay has netted in both draws and is 6-4 at bet365 to score again and 9-3 to break the deadlock.
Hamilton and Killie are still looking over their shoulders at United's revival and both have tough tests at home.
Accies looked terrible at Pittodrie on Sunday and I'm on Dundee at 8-5 with Betfred to add to their misery. They sparkled in routing Ross County 5-2 last week then shut out Celtic.
Killie are still looking for a win under Lee Clark and while they're tougher to beat they don't score enough and may have to fight for point against St Johnstone.
In the Championship Hibs are no value at Alloa while best bet at Falkirk v St Mirren could be both to score at 19-20 with Ladbrokes.
There should also be goals at QoS who receive a visit from Raith who can relax until the play-offs. There have been 25 goals in Queens' last five matches so go for over 2.5 goals at 9-10 with Ladbrokes.
Bets to Consider
Motherwell dnb
Moult to score
Mckay to score
Dundee
QoS v Raith over 2.5 goals
Falkirk v St Mirren btts
Resident football tipster at Scotland's most read newspaper, the Daily Record, for over 20 years and proud host of one the best betting communities on the web with daily betting tips.
