Mark Atkinson discusses the weekend's matches in the Scottish Premiership.
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00:00Hello, it's Mark Atkinson here, Sports Editor of the Scotsman,
00:10quickly talking you through the William Hill Premiership card this weekend.
00:16We've got five games on Saturday, one on Sunday.
00:20Let's start at Celtic Park where the leaders, rampantly leaders,
00:24you would say Celtic host Hibs,
00:27who got themselves off the bottom of the table last weekend.
00:32They're two points clear of capital rivals Hearts
00:35at a point behind 10th place Kilmarnock,
00:38but there won't be many people who expect them to get anything from Celtic Park.
00:43Britain Rochester's men got a massive result against Aberdeen
00:47at midweek to move further clear at the top of the Premiership.
00:50They only dropped two points all season in the league,
00:53that was at home to Aberdeen,
00:55and most people will have it down as a comfortable home win for Celtic.
01:00You would expect Brendan Rodgers potentially to rotate his team a little bit
01:03given they go to Zagreb on Tuesday night,
01:05but the reality is his squad is so strong that they should have enough to prevail.
01:10For David Gray, he's probably cursing the fixture list a little bit
01:14given that Hibs got themselves back in a good place last weekend
01:18and he'd want to try and build some momentum,
01:20but ultimately he won't be judged on performance against the champions.
01:24I suppose a lot of eyes will be on the game at Tynecastle
01:28between Hearts and Dundee now.
01:31Hearts slipped to the foot of the table after the weekend results last time out,
01:36despite actually getting what I thought was a pretty good one-all draw at home to Aberdeen.
01:41Neil Critchley's team haven't won in five matches across all competitions,
01:45but it must be said they've played the Dons,
01:47both halves of the Old Firm,
01:50and also two European matches against Heidenheim and Circle of Bruges,
01:54but not an easy run of fixtures by any stretch of the imagination.
01:57December is kinder for Hearts.
02:00They have got a run of fixtures against teams who are currently in the bottom six,
02:05starting off against Dundee, who are in good form themselves,
02:08having beaten Motherwell 4-1 in midweek.
02:12Their free-scoring and Lyle Cameron, the midfielder, is playing very well indeed.
02:16It'll be very interesting to see how Hearts perform against one of the lower-ranked teams,
02:21you would say.
02:22There's a lot of expectation on Critchley to get them turning in the right direction,
02:27starting this weekend,
02:28but they'll be up against a Dundee team who I think are one of the most pleasing on the eye
02:33when they go forward.
02:34Al Batulo is there for us and that'll be a really good watch, I think.
02:38Aberdeen, another team that probably need a win,
02:41but for different reasons.
02:42They've now gone four matches in the league without a victory,
02:45losing to St Mirren, drawing at Hebs, drawing at Hearts,
02:48and then losing to Celtic.
02:49That's taking a little bit of shine off their start to the season.
02:52They're at home to St Johnstone at Baton Drie on Saturday afternoon
02:56and there'll be a lot of people thinking that should be a straightforward three points.
02:59I was quite impressed by St Johnstone when I saw them in the flesh against Rangers at the weekend.
03:03They're playing a different brand of football under Simo Alakai.
03:08They play out from the back, they play some very neat triangles,
03:12and up front they have two strikers in Adam Asitaba and Benji Kempioka,
03:17whose pace and power can cause problems for any defence.
03:20And bear in mind that Aberdeen do leave gaps in the back.
03:22That could be quite an interesting match.
03:24Jimmy Tolleen, he's been very, very grounded throughout his time as Don's manager.
03:30Not getting too high and not getting too low,
03:33but he'll know that he'll require a response from his players
03:38when they take to the field against the Saints.
03:41Another manager who needs a response is Kilmarnock boss Derek MacInnes.
03:45They were beaten 6-0 by Rangers during the week.
03:48MacInnes was really unimpressive as team's second-half performance
03:52and they head on the road again, this time to Tandeyes to take on fourth-placed Dundee United,
03:57a team that not many people have talked about.
03:59They've had a great start to the season since getting a promotion to the championship there
04:03and are in a really, really good place right now.
04:06I have no doubt that MacInnes will get a reaction from his Kilmarnock team
04:09but will it be enough to get any points off a United side who are pretty marginally at the back
04:15and have got goals with them, especially with Sam Dalby.
04:17That'll be a really interesting game.
04:19The other match on Saturday is between St Mirren and Motherwell.
04:23Now, Motherwell have been on the end of two really bad defeats of late.
04:28They lost to Hibbs 3-0, a game I was at,
04:30and it was probably the worst team performance I've seen from anyone this season.
04:35You were expecting a reaction against Dundee on Wednesday
04:38and they lost 4-1.
04:40There is some pressure building on Stuart Kettlewell,
04:42who, of course, went through a wretched run of form last season only to turn it round.
04:46The Motherwell are still in the fifth place,
04:48so a lot of people would say it's premature to talk about any type of panic or crisis that far apart.
04:54But given some of their performances this season, which have not been particularly brilliant,
04:59they'll be able to go and get some sort of result and some sort of reaction
05:05because the St Mirren team are always very strong at home
05:08and motoring along quite nicely under Steven Robinson.
05:11That takes care of Saturday's card.
05:13The Sunday match is High Noon Showdown in Dingwall, Ross County against Rangers.
05:19Remember last time these two met up in the Highlands?
05:22Ross County put a spear into Rangers' title challenge.
05:26Some people would argue that Rangers have already speared their title challenge this season,
05:30and it was only in December.
05:32But I would say that Philippe Clement's team,
05:34they're a really, really good morale-boosting victory against Clement.
05:39Can you expect them to bounce up there looking for more of the same?
05:42County are a much better team at home than they are away,
05:46but they are without their number one goalkeeper, Ross Laidlaw, who's got a serious knee injury.
05:51Nevertheless, we'll learn a lot about this Rangers team this weekend,
05:55given that they have struggled for consistency in performances this season.
06:01And that game is live on Sky Sports.
06:03That concludes the premiership preview, essentially, for this weekend.
06:08We'll have all the previews, reaction and analysis across the weekend on Scotsman,
06:14across all digital and print platforms.
06:16Enjoy your football weekend.