It’s derby day in Edinburgh on Saturday night, as Premiership leaders Hearts welcome Hibs to Tynecastle in what promises to be an entertaining encounter.
Derek McInnes has made an impressive start to life as Hearts boss, with the Ex-Dons and Kilmarnock manager collecting 16 points from a possible 18 (W5-D1-L0).
The Jambos backed up their 0-2 win at Ibrox, as they cruised to a 3-0 victory at home to Falkirk last weekend, on an afternoon our man SlipsTips provided another winner.
Too many draws have been Hibs’ Achilles heel so far this season, but they can regard the goalless draw they played out a Celtic Park last weekend as a good one, a result that saw their Edinburgh rivals move two points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table.
That’s now five consecutive draws in the Scottish Premiership for David Gray’s men, with their last league success coming in a 1-2 win at Dundee on the opening day of the season.
How the bookies view it: Jambos favourites
Hearts have been installed as favourites to take all three points in the first Edinburgh derby of the campaign, with BoyleSports pricing a home success at 4/5.
The Hibees are 13/5 with the same firm to take all three points back to Leith, whilst a sixth consecutive draw for the visitors also pays 13/5.
Head to head: Hibees dominance in recent times
Hibs have gotten the better of Hearts in recent meetings, with The Hibees losing just one of their past eight meetings with their city-rivals (W3-D4-L1), including a 1-2 victory on their last visit to Tynecastle on Boxing Day.
Players to watch: Shankland to strike again?
After a frustrating campaign last season, Lawrence Shankland appears back to his best, with The Jambos captain scoring four goals across his opening six Premiership matches, with three of those coming in his last two appearances.
Shankland has scored 10 times against Hibs throughout his career, and he is Evens to score on Saturday, which appeals to me here.
Predicted line-ups:
Hearts will be without Craig Gordon, Frankie Kent, Christian Borchgrevink, Calem Nieuwenhof, Ageu and Finlay Pollock, all through injury.
David Gray will be unable to call upon Alasana Manneh, Elie Youan and club captain Joe Newell, who are injured.
Hearts: Schwolow, McEntee, Halkett, Findlay, Kingsley, Milne, Baningime, Devlin, Kyziridis, Shankland, Braga
Hibernian: Sallinger, O’Hora, Hanley, Iredale, Cadden, Mulligan, Levitt, Campbell, Obita, Boyle, Bowie
Anything else catch the eye?
The Jambos have been in fine goal-scoring form so far this season, firing in 15 goals across their opening six Premiership contests – scoring on multiple occasions in each of them – and I like the 17/20 on offer at William Hill for a repeat here.
David Gray’s men were fortunate not to concede at least once at Celtic Park last weekend, and prior to that, they had shipped multiple goals in seven of their past nine matches in all competitions, which adds further appeal to the selection.
Both Teams to Score has been a winning selection in six of the past seven Edinburgh derbies, with the last two also going Over 2.5 Goals, and given the goalscoring form both teams are in, I like the 21/20 on offer at BoyleSports for a repeat here.
GambleAware