Originally Posted by
ThomasHB
I have posted 1 bet on my blog today as shown below...
Aberdeen vs Kilmarnock
Advice: KILMARNOCK +0.5 at 1.98 Sbobet (1.86+)
Aberdeen were very impressive at Motherwell in the cup midweek with their counter attacking football but back on home soil in a game they will be expected to win, I think they are worth opposing here. The Dons have won just 2 from 8 at home all season and when you compare that with their away record (4 wins in 9), they certainly seem better suited to playing on the road. It could be down to a number of things as to why they have not overly impressed at Pittodrie and the most obvious is probably the added pressure on them from the home support given the fact they are one of the favourites to finish 2nd in the league this season and are expected to win just about every game at home. I think the set up of this game will suit Kilmarnock, who, like Aberdeen, are a very quick team on the counter attack and they have key players returning to their squad right on time. Captain Manuel Pascali returns from a 2 game suspension and they certainly missed his steel and fight against Celtic last weekend. Liam Kelly has also returned from injury earlier than expected and having played last weekend, he will strip much fitter for this game and is another key part of how Kilmarnock operate in the middle of the park. Overall, manager Kenny Shiels has no problems to report and it leaves the visitors at full strength. The same cannot be said for Aberdeen who are still missing key players. Ryan Jack, Gary Naysmith, Isaac Osbourne, Stephen Hughes and Ryan Fraser are all still missing for the hosts and defender Russell Anderson is a major doubt. These are all very much first team players and although they missed out against Motherwell midweek and still won, it has left Craig Brown very little room for rotation throughout a tough festive period. Aberdeen ran out convincing 3-1 winners in Kilmarnock back in October but both squads will look a little different for this match with Kilmarnock looking stronger and Aberdeen missing those key men. To give you an idea, Jack, Anderson, Osbourne, Hughes and Fraser all started for the Dons in that 3-1 win in October. Kilmarnock were missing left back Jereon Tesselar, key striker Paul Heffernan and first choice goalkeeper Cammy Bell that day and all 3 are now back playing first team football and will start this game. Sheridan and Heffernan have formed a good partnership up top for Kilmarnock and with this Dons defence looking a little makeshift at present, Kilmarnock will cause problems from them here, especially on the counter attack with Hughes & Osbourne missing from the Dons defensive areas. Aberdeen do have Vernon and Fallon back up top which is a plus for them but I do feel they have missed the creativity of young winger Ryan Fraser in their last few league games and they certainly lacked any cutting edge in a 2-0 defeat at Hearts last weekend. As I said, they were impressive in the 2nd half at Motherwell midweek but it remains to be seen if that has taken anything out of their already injury hit squad and this game will have a much different look to it with Aberdeen being forced to take the game to the visitors instead of looking to play on the break. To give us further optimism about this advice, Killie have lost just 1 of their last 4 away games in the league (a narrow 2-1 defeat at St Johnstone) and have picked up impressive wins at Celtic (2-0) and Hearts (3-1) aswell as a 3-3 draw at Dundee Utd (conceded a last minute equaliser). A full half ball start for Kilmarnock at 1.86+ offers excellent value in my book and certainly the 1.98 on offer is much too good to turn down.