St. Johnstone v Rangers: Latest Odds & Betting Tips

Rangers boss Walter Smith will be glad to get back to matters on the football pitch after a week of speculation that has seen almost every first-team player linked with a move out of Ibrox. Most notable has been the on-off transfer saga of top scorer Kris Boyd to Birmingham City – a move that would almost certainly see the Gers surrender their league challenge to Celtic. The acceptance of an offer from the Championship side has caused uproar amongst the Rangers support and the unrest must have filtered through to Smith’s squad. These circumstance make a mockery of the 17/2 (Bet Direct, Stan James) odds on St. Johnstone causing an upset and piling on the misery down Govan way.

The Saints are currently top of the Scottish 1st Division and are unbeaten in 14. Confidence is extremely high at McDairmid Park and they’ve got their eye on a return to the top flight next term. They’ll also take some heart from last season’s meeting between the two sides when St.Johnstone forced extra-time before eventually losing out on a final place on penalties. That result followed a 2-0 cup win for Saints in 2006 that contributed to the end of Paul Le Guen’s era as Rangers boss. So can they cause another upset tonight?

Well, I certainly wouldn’t be backing Rangers to win away from home at just 4/11 (Bet365, Bet Direct, Betfred, Coral, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power, Stan James, VCBet, William Hill). They’ve won less than half of their games on the road this term and were held to a draw at Partick Thistle in the League Cup before progressing in extra time. And there’s been a bit of a plunge on St. Johnstone today as they’ve come in from 9s and some bookies are going as short as 7/1 so the punters must fancy their chances.

At 17/2 the Saints are worth a small investment but possibly more appealing is the 1/1 on offer at Ladbrokes on St. Johnstone with +1/+1.5 goals of a start on the Asian Handicap. That means that even if they lose by a single goal you’ll get half your stake back and paid out on the other half.

All eyes will be on the aforementioned Boyd and it would come as no surprise if he got his name on the scoresheet amid all the furore over his future. Coral go 1/1 that he’ll score during the game and 4/1 that he’ll open the scoring. Although he’s scored 18 in the league this season, 14 of those have been against teams in the lower half of the division – St. Johnstone more or less fall into that category so they’re the kind of team that Boyd excels against. It should also be noted that he’s scored 5 penalties so that 1/1 price looks fairly tempting.

Let me know your thoughts on tonights game.

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