Ayr United (home)
- Ayr United have won none, drawn two and lost three of their last five games.
- Ayr United play a narrow 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 formation and focus on being as compact as possible in midfield.
- Brown has made them a tough team to break down, but they have lost their last two matches and failed to win at home in their last two.
Partick Thistle (away)
- This weekend’s Championship matchup between Scottish Championship’s second-placed team, Partick Thistle (59 points from 31 matches), and eighth-placed Ayr United (35 points from 30 games), sees the visitors in good form but the hosts looking to reverse a run of two straight defeats.
- Thistle’s recent resurgence up the Championship standings has largely been attributed to Mark Wilson’s arrival at the club and his high-tempo, vertical style of play has been implemented well by the side.
- Wilson has deployed his side in a 4-2-3-1 formation and has focused on making them a pro-active, high-pressuring team that can exploit compact and deep-lying defences with their pace and movement.
- The visitors come into this game having won their last two league matches and two of their last three away games, so they certainly have momentum.
Key Players
- Key players to watch:
- Mark McKenzie leads the way for Ayr United with seven goals in 30 Championship appearances this term.
- Logan Chalmers is Thistle’s top scorer with eight goals in 27.
- Anton Dowds has scored two of Ayr United’s last three goals and can provide the key impact against the Jags.
Betting Insights
- Both teams to score is priced at 1.6 here which is just about passable, but we’re going to take Partick to come out on top in this encounter.
- Wilson’s proactive playing style should be well-suited to playing against a compact and rigid team like Ayr, who will have to be very disciplined to avoid being overrun in transition.
- Over 2.5 goals is priced at 1.8, which is very fair considering Ayr have conceded 17 goals in 14 home games this Championship season (W3, D6, L5).
Prediction
Both teams to score is priced at 1.6 here which is just about passable, but we’re going to take Partick to come out on top in this encounter.
