I think Motherwell can return to winning ways in the Scottish Premiership by seeing off Livingston at Fir Park on Saturday afternoon. 

While the third-placed Steelman have drawn 0-0 with both Hearts and Falkirk over the past week, they are now unbeaten in seven league matches. Across that seven-game unbeaten run, Jens Berthel Askou’s side have taken top honours when hosting Dundee United and Hibernian, and they should prove too strong for the latest visitors, Livingston, this weekend.

David Martindale’s team have endured a difficult start to life back in the top-flight, losing eight of their opening 14 matches of the season, with their solitary success coming against fellow newly-promoted side Falkirk way back on matchday two.  

What’s more, the Lions have lost four of their last six top-flight fixtures, one of which was a 2-1 defeat when hosting Motherwell back in October. Livingston’s poor form and lack of clean sheets (1) means that they are currently propping up the Scottish Premiership table, and a fixture with attack-minded Motherwell is unlikely to bring about a change in fortunes.

Amid a sticky spell of form, St Mirren look like vulnerable favourites when they play host to Dundee United in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday. The Saints are without a league win since late September and, as a consequence, have slid into the relegation play-off spot.

Stephen Robinson’s side have been uncharacteristically shaky at the back this season, evidenced by the fact that they have bagged just two clean sheets across their first 14 top-flight fixtures of the campaign.

More worryingly, St Mirren have conceded two goals or more in five of their last six Scottish Premiership matches, leaking three goals away at both Dundee and Aberdeen since last weekend.  With that in mind, I think Dundee United look well placed to strike at least once in Paisley on Saturday afternoon.  

Jim Goodwin’s side - who scored twice when drawing with Rangers on Wednesday night - have made the net bulge in 11 of their 14 Scottish Premiership matches this season, including six of their seven games away from home.

This is probably the shortest price that Blackburn have been to win a home league match for a very long time, but there are definitely some strong reasons behind this price, and it could even go shorter nearer kick-off.

Let's begin with the positives. Blackburn are beginning to look like a really good side. Valerien Ismael has his team playing coherently and in the image of some of his best sides of the past, particularly his Barnsley team, that made the Championship play-offs in 2020/21.

The change of shape to a 3-4-1-2 has suited the team perfectly, and their recent record shows that. They were really unlucky not to hold on to beat Ipswich in their rearranged match on Tuesday night. They were the better team, as they were at Wrexham last Saturday, but injury time goals turned a potential six points into two.

Rovers actually sit in the play-off positions in the expected points table, and their relatively low league position is a little false.

Turning to Sheffield Wednesday, it is becoming a real struggle for them. They actually displayed some good football in the first half especially against Preston, and we're perhaps a missed penalty away from getting something, but they conceded three goals at home to a Preston team that aren't the most free-flowing in attack.

The Owls have been deducted another six points as well, so there is very little motivation for them to gather points other than pride. There is definitely a lot of that on show, though, so my main concern is quality and fatigue. There are not enough Championship-quality players in the squad, and the ones that are there have to be flogged as much as possible.

Rovers should add to Wednesday's losses to make it five in a row and 13 without a win.

Whilst I can understand that this has quite a bit of tension on it, I think that the goal line is a little too low for this match, for a number of reasons.

Much of Swansea's data so far was under Alan Sheehan, and now that Vitor Matos has come in, there should be a slight change of emphasis to make them a bit more open. The way that Matos played at Maritimo, in a short spell, would suggest that, and Swansea were involved in a really goal-heavy and chance-heavy match against West Brom last time out (losing 3-2).

Indeed, Swansea matches have beaten this line in the last eight, with the last five of those going over 2.5 goals as well.

Over the last 10 matches, Swansea have conceded 1.5 xG per match, so their average chances conceded could easily cover this line alone.

Oxford are no strangers to goals in their matches either. They have passed this line in their last seven Championship matches. They have only managed to keep one clean sheet away from home this season as well, at QPR.

Similarly to Swansea, Oxford’s xG against is another positive aspect to this bet. Away from home this season, Oxford have allowed an average of 1.84 xG against per match.

Given the contrasting form that these two teams are currently experiencing, I was surprised to see Partick Thistle priced up as the outsiders for their Scottish Championship clash with Ayr on Saturday.

The Jags are the form team in the second tier at the moment, winning five of their last seven matches to move joint-top of the table. Partick claimed a statement win over league leaders  St Johnstone a fortnight ago, and they backed that up by edging out Dunfermline last midweek. Therefore, Mark Wilson’s high-flying side certainly won't be fazed by the prospect of travelling to Somerset Park to take on Ayr on Saturday.

While Scott Brown’s side are currently sitting 3rd in the standings, their solitary victory across their last six matches came against bottom of the table Airdrie, not to mention they fell to a 2-1 defeat to Partick Thistle across that six-game sequence in this season’s reverse fixture.

So with all things considered, title-chasing Thistle hold plenty of appeal on the Double Chance on Saturday.

From a form perspective, RAMBO T is at the top of my shortlist, in this competitive 2m4f handicap hurdle. The six-time scorer over the smaller obstacles produced a career best, when winning at Chepstow last time. He narrowly beat an outsider that day, but the form is working out tremendously – the runner-up has won his last two starts – in Listed company. We may not have reached the ceiling of Rambo T’s ability, and I’m backing him to at least reach the placings.

A tricky staying chase to conclude the card at the Esher venue, but TANGANYIKA has placed form over further than this, which ought to stand him in good stead. The Martaline gelding is expected to improve from a fair Cheltenham fifth on reappearance, too. O’Connell is the obvious improver, and main danger, having already proved himself at this venue.

First up I’m taking a -3 handicap on the Dolphins against the Jets. Earlier in the season the Dolphins were, let’s be frank here, a disgrace, but it’s going under the radar how much they’ve improved of late.

This is a team who’ve won four of their last five games, including beating the Bills. There have been tweaks on the offensive side of the ball, and in De’Von Achan,e they have one of the league’s most dangerous running backs.

You’re looking at two at the worst teams in the league when it comes to covering the spread but in the majority of that on the Ravens side was down to their terrible start to the season that saw them cover just once in their opening six games, with it being a 50/50 split since.

The Steelers have dropped off big time after a strong start to the season that saw them 4-1 after the opening five games. They’ve only covered the spread in two of seven games since and don’t have any consistency. If Lamar Jackson is healthy, which isn’t certain given that he’s listed as questionable at the time of writing, as is Steelers’ QB Aaron Rodgers, then the Ravens should cover.

It’s been a huge frustrating year for Ravens fans with the team going from a team who were fancied as frontrunners for the Super Bowl, to a team who are 6-6 and not even certain to reach the playoffs. A win here and they’re favourites to make the playoffs in their division and Derrick Henry will be integral to that.

Henry was a monster with 21 touchdowns last year but has had a down year by those standards, scoring just 10 in 12 games. The good news is that he’s scored four TDs in his last three. His track record also shows he comes to life in December and January, and I believe he'll be among the scorers this weekend.

The Ravens have been hard to call this season, with Jackson’s fitness being part of that reason. Last week he was poor against the Bengals and it’s clear that he wasn’t totally fit. However, he's been reasonable on offense this season, putting up the 12th most points per game, with an average of 24.1.

That average sits just below the line here but it’s worth backing. Firstly, that average includes games without Jackson at QB. Secondly, the Steelers have been haemorrhaging points recently. In the past fortnight they’ve given the Bills 26 and let the Bears put up 31. If the Ravens offense plays as it should, then they put up 25 or more here.

Finally, I want to back the overall game total. I think we see a large chunk of the 43.5 total points scored by the Ravens but the Steelers should be able to contribute. After all, this is a Ravens defense allowing 24.4 points per game and who have been a pass funnel all season long.

In the last four weeks we’ve seen a terrible Vikings team put up 19 against the Ravens, the Browns scored 16 and the Jets scored 10. It’s not a stretch to see the Steelers score more than all of those teams given that they’re far superior.