INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE will be looking to breathe some life into their Scottish League Cup campaign when they take on Airdrie on Tuesday night.
After reaching last season's Scottish Cup final, the Highlanders are already in danger of falling at the first hurdle in the 2023/24 League Cup.
Billy Dodds' side banked three points from their Group E opener with Bonnyrigg Rose, but they were brought back down to earth with a bump when losing 2-1 at Dumbarton last midweek.
That setback coupled with results elsewhere means the Caley Jags can ill-afford another slip up when they play host to Airdrie on Tuesday.
After recording a 2-0 win over Dumbarton in their own curtain-raiser, the Diamonds caused a bit of an upset when earning a 1-0 win over Dundee on Saturday.
As such, Rhys McCabe's men are sitting at the top of the section and another win here would put them in pole position to take their place in the last 16.
Outright Betting
Inverness Caledonian Thistle, who have lost just twice at home since last December, head into this game as odds-on 4/5 (Bet 365) favourites.
Airdrie are 7/2 (Ladbrokes) outsiders to make it three wins from three in Group E while the 90 minute draw can be backed at a best 29/10 (Ladbrokes).
Betting Angles
I suspect this cup tie could be a lot closer than the odds suggest and I’m therefore keen to couple up Over 0.5 Airdrie Goals and Airdrie with a + 1 start on the handicap at 6/5 (William Hill).
A large proportion of Airdrie's success last season stemmed from the attacking threat that they carry and their ability to score should give them a good opportunity to stay competitive in the Highlands.
In fact, the Diamonds boasted the deadliest attack in League One last season en-route to promotion, banging in a whopping 82 goals across their 36 league games during the regular season.
It's also worth pointing out that Rhys McCabe has retained the core of the squad that were promoted last season, while their Highland hosts that will be moving forward without some key names this term.
As such, I fancy attack-minded Airdrie to breach an Inverness backline that have already failed to shut out League Two duo Bonnyrigg Rose and Dumbarton in this season's Scottish League Cup.
With all of that in mind, coupled with the dynamics of the section, siding with the aforementioned Bet Builder stands out at 6/5 with William Hill.
On a similar line of reasoning to the above, I'll also go with the 2/1 on offer with Bet 365 for the Diamonds to deliver Over 1.5 Team Goals.
This really is a must win game as far as the hosts are concerned, so they will have to throw caution to the wind in search of a goal at some point here, and that could open up some space for forward-thinking Airdrie to exploit.
This Scottish League Cup match between Inverness CT and Airdrie will be played on Jul 25, 2023 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Inverness CT vs Airdrie prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
