Another week brings yet another postponed game, but at least we were told about it before the deadline.
Fixtures
Saturday 24th October
Kilmarnock v Hibernian
Motherwell v Ross County
St. Johnstone v Dundee United
St. Mirren v Ross County
Sunday 25th October
Aberdeen v Celtic
Rangers v Livingston
Kilmarnock v Hibernian - Saturday 15:00
KIllie come into this game looking to extend their winning streak to four games. This game promises to bring goals, as they are the two highest scorers outside of the two old firm teams. The partnership of Nicke Kabamba (4.5) and Chris Burke (5.0) have combined for 8 goals and 2 assists so far this season, they face the league's joint highest scorer in Kevin Nisbet (5.4) who has 6 goals, Christian Doidge (5.9) and Martin Boyle (6.5) have also chipped in with three goals each. With all this firepower surely we should see a lot of action.
Motherwell v Ross County - Saturday 15:00
One unnamed Motherwell player will miss their first league game in a month due to a positive COVID test. With this long of a break could it mean they are lacking match fitness when they face a County side that have played 4 games in since Motherwell last played.
County come into this game off the back of a good result as they drew 0-0 at home with Hibs, which was their fourth clean sheet of the season, their defence has good value with players like Josh Reid (2.0) and Alex Iacovitti (2.3) being some of the cheapest on the game, and are always handy to have on the bench when favourable fixtures come around. This could be one of those occasions as they won the first game between these sides 1-0 on the first gameweek of the season.
St. Johnstone v Dundee United - Saturday 15:00
Callum Davidson's side have scored 14 goals in their last three games and looked to found a way to fix their attacking issues. With the attention of Guy Melamed (4.9) they should become more deadly. Stevie May (5.2) appears to be back to his best and is playing more centrally, operating more as a poacher, and with the level of balls David Wotherspoon (4.2) and Craig Conway (4.1) have been putting into the box we believe he'll achieve his first double-digit scoring season since 2013/14.
Dundee United have Benji Siegrist (2.6) to thank for helping them secure a point against Aberdeen and he will need to have another big performance again this Saturday as St. Johnstone have had a higher xG than their opponents in all but 4 games this season.
St. Mirren v Hamilton - POSTPONED
The game was called off after Public Health Scotland's decision to place the entire St. Mirren squad into isolation after yet more positive COVID tests.
Aberdeen v Celtic - Sunday 12:00 - Sky Sports
Ryan Edmonson (4.5) who scored a brace in mid-week appears might miss out on Sunday after limping off against Hamilton. Aberdeen's defence has been solid this season and should be able to keep it close against the champions.
Stephen Welsh (2.0) has now started the last two games on the right side of the back three and is certainly a great option if he continues to get gametime, even if he doesn't play the low cost makes him a no risk option. Odsonne Edouard (8.3) wasn't on the bench for the AC Milan game on Thursday, so looks likely to not be included in the matchday squad for a second straight week. Neil Lennon's side will look to bounce back from an Old Firm defeat where they failed to register a shot on target. Celitc's forward line has been deadly this season, with Albian Ajeti (7.2), Patrick Klimala (4.9) and Edouard having the the three best minutes per goal of those that have netted three times or more this season (54, 96 and 131 respectively).
Rangers v Livingston - Sunday 15:00
Borna Barisic (4.7) could miss out on this game after being sent for a scan on a strained thigh after being substituted during their win over Standard Liege on Thursday. In the same game James Tavernier (6.3) continued his fine season when he scored his 9th goal of the season, and looks to break through into double digits this weekend, the Englishman is the highest scoring player in the game sitting on 107 points so far with teammates Connor Goldson and Borna Barisic the closest to him on 77 and 74 points respectively.
Livi will be without Robby McCrorie (2.2), who is ineligible to face his parent club, Max Stryjek (2.1) kept a clean sheet when these sides met earlier in the season.
Scout XI
James Tavernier's ridiculous season makes him the favourite to be captain every week and since Rangers have only conceded in two games this season, Allan McGregor was an easy pick to go alongside him.
Lewis Ferguson might seem a risk going against Celtic but it is hard to pick against the league's joint top scorer.
Craig Conway gets the nod over David Wotherspoon as the Scot has the extra bonus of being on corners.
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