THERE'S a midweek card in the Scottish Premiership and a couple of bets caught the eye of Chris Graham (@chrisgraham79).
Celtic v Motherwell | Wednesday 19:45
As I type Motherwell are as big as 28/1 with one bookmaker. I'm pretty sure that must be the biggest price available on a team to win this season in the Scottish Premiership. I look forward to researching that later.
My bet is simple here, it's Celtic to win to nil at 5/6 with Paddy Power. Interestingly it's as short as 11/20 with other bookmakers. Motherwell have had a truly awful season, to the point where it's hard to comprehend they finished the last two campaigns in second place.
The man behind those two second place finishes Stuart McCall failed to get things going this season and left the club in November. An opening day win against St Mirren was certainly not a sign of things to come, and that was followed by nine defeats out of 11.
When McCall's replacement Ian Barraclough joined the club there was a slight upturn in results with two victories at the end of 2014 against St Mirren and Motherwell. The rot set in again though as they kicked off 2015 with three defeats, scoring one goal and conceding 11.
The defence is back to it's shambolic form of the autumn and the goals have dried up too. Well have fired blanks in nine of their 21 games this season and have just one away clean sheet to show for their efforts.
Their tally of just 14 goals this season is the lowest tally in the whole of Scottish football and they've lost to nil on nine occasions as well. I can see that being 10 after tonight.
Celtic still haven't hit top gear as we saw on Saturday in their 2-0 win over Hamilton, but they'll be far too strong for Motherwell. My original inclination was to back them on the handicap but they just don't seem to scoring as freely this season. In fact their not even top scorers in this division.
They're keeping it tidy at the back though with just 12 goals conceded this season. Three consecutive clean sheets have been achieved, in fact five of their last seven league games saw them shut out opponents. Celtic have also had eight wins to nil this season. I very much like the 5/6 on it occuring again against this limp Motherwell side.
Partick Thistle v Hamilton | Wednesday 19:45
I thought the Hamilton house may fall down after Alex Neil's departure a couple of weeks ago but that hasn't really been the case. However they've lost both matches since captain Martin Canning took charge and that has to be recognised.
To be fair it's been Dundee United and Celtic in his way, but I still feel the bookmakers are giving the Neil-less Accies a bit too much respect at the odds.
Partick are a bottom half side but are certainly a level above Ross, St Mirren and Motherwell, and they're capable of making things hard for opponents. Twice they beaten third place side Inverness this season, one of those wins was a 4-0 dismembering just before Christmas in Maryhill. They also drew with Dundee United just after New Year.
Thistle have already got a draw in Hamilton this season and have kept it tight in narrow defeats to Celtic and Aberdeen. They're 19/10 to win here with Ladbrokes, that may be stretching it a little so I'll dip into the draw market at 5/2.
Oh also, Partick Thistle haven't had a back-to-back result all season in 2014/15! They lost on Saturday, so on that trend they won't lose here.
Best Bets
Celtic v Motherwell – Celtic to win to nil (5/6 Paddy Power)
Partick Thistle v Hamilton – Draw (5/2 Betfred)
