I POSTED on Monday a preview of this week's football and while it was great having the UCL and Europa league qualifiers to keep us busy and swell the coffers, its great to see the Scottish League Cup back to open the season.
We have 14 matches to look forward to today (all 3pm KO's) and there are quite a few of them I like the look of to deliver goals.
Stirling Albion vs Hibs
Premiership Hibernian have been the toast of July for me – I've backed them in all three of their friendlies and they delivered 6 winners from 6 selections – and they travel to play League Two Stirling who won't pose them much trouble. It's really a case of how many goals Hibs win by.
Be interesting to see Paul Heckingbottoms's line-up but would expect Mallan and Kamberi to start against a Stirling side who lost to Raith and Hamilton in their preparation for this.
It's hard to see anything but a comfortable 3-0 or 4-0 win for Hibs against the weakest opposition they will have played so far during pre season.
Partick Thistle vs Airdrie
No love lost between these two sides and it will be interesting to see how Thistle cope against an Airdrie side who are going all out to get into the Championship having adopted a full-time hybrid which will see a combination of full-time and part-time players. Murray has made a host of new signings and they will make it difficult for Thistle.
Despite last season's horror show Thistle have still retained a number of experienced players and have brought in veteran striker Kenny Miller who can still do a job at this level.
Fancy goals here and wouldn't be surprised to see both sides score.
Recommended Bets
- Over 2.5 match goals double
- 6/4 (Ladbrokes) (NAP)
Other Bets
Elgin travel to play Arbroath and while I don't think they will be a match for Dick Campbell's Championship side the books have prices them at a massive 11/1 which means we great odds on Elgin just to score. They are 5/6 to do so.
- All 14 Betfred Cup matches over 1.5 goals
- 10/1 (Bet365)
Over 45 goals in Scottish Cup games 7/4 William Hill