Scottish Premier Leage Picks - 8 September 2011

Rob Alexander picks a couple of great value bets from the weekend's SPL fixtures

The Scottish Premier League returns to action this weekend after the national side just about kept their hopes of a Euro 2012 play-off spot alive with four points from two "must win" matches.

Not many SPL players were involved in the international break so most sides will be fresh and raring to go over the coming weeks.

Rangers and Celtic will both be looking for maximum points before next Sunday's Old Firm at Ibrox. Rangers are yet to lose a match and have 13 points from five matches, while Celtic are a point behind last season's champions after slipping to a 1-0 defeat to St Johnstone at Celtic Park a couple of weeks ago to give the Perth side their first three points of the season.

Another side to claim their first win of the season recently was Inverness, who scored a last minute winner against Kilmarnock at the Caledonian Stadium to move off the bottom of the table.

On Sunday the current bottom two sides play each other as Hibernian host Aberdeen in what could be a very important match for both sides' seasons.

Weekend Picks

Celtic v Motherwell

Second and third place face each other at Celtic Park on Saturday as high flying Motherwell make the short trip to the east end of Glasgow just a couple of weeks after losing their first match of the season at home to Celtic's bitter rivals, Rangers.

Celtic have been buoyed by the news that they were reinstated to the Europa League group stages after FC Sion were found guilty of breaking a transfer embargo and fielding illegible players in the matches against Celtic.

A win on Saturday would give the Parkhead side further to cheer and rid them of the memory of their last home outing against St Johnstone.

Motherwell have showed a great deal of  progress under Stuart McCall but were roundly trounced at the hands of Rangers and I think Celtic will take all three points in a similar fashion this weekend.

Bet 2 points on Celtic -2.25 at 2.75 with bet365. Even Celtic -3 at 5.25 with bet365 is tempting.

Hibernian v Aberdeen

This clash of the bottom two sides in the SPL is an opportunity for both sides to finally kick start their season and climb the table towards the top six, where they were both aiming for when the new season began.

Hibs have had a terrible start to the season, taking just three points from five matches. Their only win came away to Inverness, their first ever win in the Highland capital so that is something. Two home games and two defeats, at the hands of Celtic and St Mirren, is something that needs to change pretty quickly if the Edinburgh side want to have a good season and challenge for the top six.

Aberdeen's start hasn't been much better, also with just a home win over Inverness and a home draw against St Johnstone counting for them in the points tally. Aberdeen are yet to score away from home and will be thankful they are playing against a similarly measly side.

It's very hard to choose between either side in this, both sides are in bad form and look like they will find it really hard to score. I doubt it'll be a high scoring affair.

Bet 2 points on Aberdeen +0.25 at 1.82 with Victor Chandler and bet365.