Dundee v Rangers
Rangers, by contrast are not having the best of times. The troubled club have managed only two wins in their last 5 league games (including one against Celtic), and have drawn the rest. Their 1-1 draw with Hibs at the weekend saw them being overtaken by rivals Celtic at the top of the table, something Walter Smith and his troops will want to put right soon enough. In terms of history between these two sides, we have to go back to 2001 for the last time Dundee beat Rangers in any competition: goals from future 'Ger Claudia Caniggia and Steven Milne sank Rangers 2-1 at Ibrox back in 2001.
Prediction: For all their current problems, Rangers are still too strong. Surely no upsets here? We'll go for a 2-0 win for Rangers.
St Johnstone v Dundee Utd
Perth-based St Johnstone got themselves into the Quarter Final of the League Cup thanks to a tremendous 3-1 win at Easter Road, but since then they've been finding life in the SPL hard enough. One win in their last four games (against Hamilton) has the Saints in 10th place, seperated by only 2 points from bottom side Falkirk. Good news for St Johnstone this week came in the shape of manager Derek McInnes and assistant Tony Doherty extending their contracts until May 2011.
Dundee United, fourth in the table, pulled of a tremendous 2-0 win at Pittodrie on Saturday, a win all the more remarkable given the number of injuries the Terrors have. Manager Craig Levein continues to work wonders at Tannadice with a small squad and limited funds.
They've already beaten St Johnstone this season in the league, so they'll be expecting to carry on from where they've left off. A word of caution though - the last time United lost to St Johnstone was in the 3rd Round of this very competition, when goals by former United player Jason Scotland, Steven Milne and Simon Mensing completed at 3-0 rout in September of 2006.
Prediction: United are in great form at the moment, so we'll go for a 2-0 win for United.
St Mirren v Motherwell
St Mirren and Motherwell meet again for the second time in 3 days. Last Saturday these two sides fought out an entertaining 3-3 draw. Motherwell have been exceeding expectations this season, given the turbulent events over the summer. Losing a manager as well as three of your top performers will unsettle any team, but new manager Jim Gannon has done well to keep Motherwell in the running; they're currently in the top-half of the table.
Sitting two points below Motherwell are St Mirren. It's been a while since The Buddies have been this high up the ladder, so Gus McPherson is hoping the rarefied atmosphere of the top half of the table will not get to his players heads. A 2-1 win over Kilmarnock in the previous round sets up this fixture tomorrow.
Prediction: Motherwell just have the edge in this game, learning from their mistakes on Saturday to secure a win. We'll go for a 2-1 win for Motherwell.
Celtic v Hearts (Wed)
Under-pressure manager Tony Mowbray will have been relieved with the nervy 2-1 win over Hamilton on Sunday that put his team back on top of the SPL. That 0-0 draw against Motherwell aside, not to mention the 2-1 defeat by Rangers, Celtic have been performing to the script, with wins over Hearts, Falkirk and St Mirren in their last five games. That those wins are all against lower half of the table teams is perhaps relevant, as their opponents tomorrow Hearts, are all the way down in 9th place.
Hearts are having a particularly bad time of it lately. Only one win in their last five league games (against Hamilton) has Csaba Laszlo's team seriously under-performing. The team that finished 3rd last season squandered many chances in the 0-0 draw with bottom side Falkirk on Saturday; if they're going to get a result against Celtic they'll want to find that spark in front of goal.
Prediction: Celtic to win a tight game, 1-0.
I fancy Dundee, they've got form, confidence and momentum. Not much of that on show at Ibrox just now and Smith's threatening to play a weaker team. If the bank haven't sacked him in the next 24 hours.
ReplyDeleteGiven the way these teams played at the weekend the televised game is, again, looking like being the dullest of the four.
To be honest, it's difficult chosing the game to televise. I suppose Celtic v Hearts is the game with the strongest teams, but Celtic where not exactly convincing against Accies and Hearts missed so many chances due to their current state of crapness. St Johnstone v Dundee Utd is a sort of derby, while there's lots of headlines, not to mention scarves/ticket books on the pitch and boo-ing to be endured/enjoyed, should Rangers lose at Dens. I keep waiting for the Rangers backlash which, after the 4-1 pumping by that Romanian side and the 1-1 against Hibs at the weekend, not to mention Rangers' threatened demise to Division 3 at any moment, should be along shortly. Possibly.
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