IT'S Champions League night and Hearts would love to part of the tournament next season.
That's still a long shot with Craig Levein's men a best 18-1 at Betway to lift the title.
Celtic remain big favourites at 3-10 with Betfred with Rangers 4-1 at McBookie.
The Jambos are aiming to move six points clear of Celtic and Kilmarnock tonight with victory at bottom dogs Dundee.
And the longer they stay in front the shorter their odds will be of achieving a miracle. Remember Leicester?
Bookies are taking no chances with Hearts tonight and Ladbrokes go a biggest 4-6 – and that should be fine on accas.
Dundee's new boss Jim McIntyre saw his side suffer a terrible 4-0 defeat at Livingston and it's difficult to see how he can transform his side so quickly and challenge the leaders.
He'll be looking for a much improved showing and will take heart from the fact Hearts are winless on three visits to Dens.
However, I'd confidently back the Jambos at -1 (21-10, betfair) or even -2 (11-2, Paddy Power) if they didn't have a Betfred Cup semi-final on Sunday as some of their focus could be on that.
Levein has warned his men not to go easy on the bottom dogs either side of big games against Rangers and Aberdeen followed by the cup semi then an Edinburgh derby with Hibs.
So my recommendation for the Super Single is Hearts -1 Asian at 5-4 with 188BET – that sees the stake returned if the Tynecastle men win by one.
Steven Naismith is the obvious pick for first scorer after taking his season's tally to 12 at the weekend. He is 5-1 at bet365.
Dundee conceded four goals from set-pieces at Livi so backing an outsider to score could pay dividends. Arnaud Djoum hit his first for the season against Aberdeen and is 5-1 at Unbet to net while an outside shout is on-loan Burnley centre-half Jimmy Dunne who has fitted in well. He is 11-2 to net with McBookie.
Recommended Bets
- Hearts -1AH
- Djoum to score
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.
I’ll post what I replied to Craneguy earlier, re. tomorrow’s match..not the best of records up at Dens in recent years, but can’t ignore current stats and circumstances. First half performance against Aberdeen was up there with the best of them and getting the ball out wide to Mitchell and Morrison getting deliveries in is half the battle just now. We have goals in lost of areas now and creating chances, but appreciate that we are prone to conceding- and during McCanns reign this season Dundee had a lot of good build up play without the end result, coupled with leaking goals left, right and centre. They’ll want to prove something with their first home match under Jim McIntyre, too. Another thing possibly worth noting is the card count which much be averaging 4+ for Hearts games – a stat worth checking. Naysmith I know is on 5 and 1 more carries a suspension which would kick in after the Hibs game, unless he were to get a straight red.
Agreed that Dunne is a threat at set pieces with 2 goals already this season and has also hit the woodwork and had one off the line. (Oh, plus an OG..!) Djoum is also coming onto a game after lengthy injury spell and playing further forward so another good goal threat, as well as a potential card…
I like Craneguys Hearts >1.5 team goals, but still think we could concede. I’ll probably take us in an accumulator, though…
Good luck👍
Team news will be interesting, Crane – obviously league cup semi on Sunday followed by derby at Tynecastle on Wednesday. Couple of players could be back for Hearts (Haring potentially and Smith is free from suspension) plus may see Amankwaa and Mulroney come in as well as wighton (against his old team) for possibly Maclean.
I thought Dundee would react to new appointment but shows a) what a rut they are in and b) how decent a unit Livingston are..4 goals from set plays too.
Dens not the best ground though for us..poor record in last 16 matches there ( 5 wins ) and not even mentioning the ghost of ‘86 – yes, I was there . Plus the old one eye on the cup scenario.
But if your top of the league you want to be playing the teams at the bottom of the league on a poor run and on the back of a trouncing . Levein will I’m sure will prep the squad.
17 matches at Dens since Aug 2000
Dundee 4 wins
Hearts 6 wins
But Dundee’s 4 wins in last 7 games