Scottish Cup semi-final predictions: Dons and Celts set for Hampden success
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- Hearts and Aberdeen meet at Hampden Park on Saturday
- Celtic and St Johnstone face off in the second semi on Sunday
- Recommended bets:
- Aberdeen to beat Hearts
- Celtic -2 handicap vs St Johnstone
Top six plays bottom six in the first Scottish Cup semi-final on Saturday when Aberdeen will hope league rankings count for something when they take on Hearts at Hampden Park.
The following day it is top versus rock bottom as Celtic take on St Johnstone, two weeks after Saints stunned Brendan Rodgers' men in the league.
Team news
Aberdeen have been buoyed by the news that Jamie McGrath and Gavin Molloy, presumed out for the season with shoulder injuries, will be in the squad. Latvian defender Kristers Tobers (ankle) misses out.
Hearts still have a headache at right-back with Gerald Taylor injured and Adam Forrester struggling, so Stephen Kingsley or Lewis Neilson could step in.
St Johnstone are without Drey Wright, Bozo Mikulic and also centre-back Zac Mitchell, who was injured in last week's 1-0 loss at Dundee United.
Viljano Sinisalo will stay in the Celtic goal with Kaspar Schmeichel out. Korean ace Yang Hyeon-jun is also missing.
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The stats
Hearts and Aberdeen have met three times this season with the Dons winning the first fixture and the other two ending in draws.
St Johnstone's 1-0 win over Celtic two weeks ago ended a 31-game winless streak against the Old Firm giants.
Daizen Maeda has scored 18 goals in his last 17 appearances, failing to score in only four of those games.
Prediction
The most finely-balanced tie of the two semi-finals is Saturday's showdown between Hearts and Aberdeen.
Hearts, despite finishing the regular season with three games without a goal and ending in the bottom six, are favourites to see off a Dons' side who went into the split in fifth place and in decent form.
The Jambos have undoubtedly improved under Neil Critchley but the truth is they finished the regular campaign 10 points behind Aberdeen having not beaten them in three previous attempts.
And Jimmy Thelin's men, who went completely off the boil after their electric start, have lost only one of their last 10 and drew 2-2 with Rangers last week.
There is a suspicion, borne out by draws when wins were needed against the likes of Petrocub in the Conference League and Motherwell last weekend, that Hearts can fluff their lines when the pressure is at its highest.
The pressure is firmly on this Saturday and Aberdeen can put them in their place.
Celtic lost 1-0 at St Johnstone two weeks ago, the biggest surprise result of the Premiership season. The Bhoys had 26 shots, 11 corners and 80 percent possession and lost; it was a fluke outcome.
Flukes can happen again, of course, but at wide-open Hampden expect Celtic to get it right in style and win with something to spare. They beat Kilmarnock 5-1 last weekend and could easily repeat that sort of scoreline on Sunday.
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