Falkirk vs Hearts Prediction: Halkett in the book and Hearts back in the groove

After a perfectly-timed return to form at Celtic Park last weekend, Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts could extend their advantage to six points when they travel to Falkirk on Saturday evening (20:00 GMT, Sky Sports Football).

Derek McInnes’ side have the chance to make the most of Celtic’s League Cup obligations, but the Bairns have been tough to beat in their top-flight return. My Falkirk vs Hearts predictions are below, complete with team news and Betfred’s match odds.

Falkirk vs Hearts Odds

The league leaders are the odds-on chance here, with 5/6 available about an away win. Falkirk, on the other hand, are available at 16/5.

It’s 13/5 about the draw, with 8/11 quoted for both teams to score. Hearts’ 10-goal striker Lawrence Shankland is the 12/5 favourite to open the scoring.

Today's Football Fixtures

Half-Time/Full-Time: Hearts/Hearts @ 9/5

If this game and the trip to Celtic had come the other way around, I’m fairly confident I’d have been tipping a difficult afternoon for Hearts.

But that 2-1 victory was pretty momentous given the struggles they had been through in the preceding weeks. Winless in four, and having recorded just one win in six, McInnes couldn’t have wished for a better response.

Now they will have had it drilled into them not to undo all the good work done at Parkhead, as dropped points at Falkirk will immediately hand back the initiative to the Hoops.

And I think they start this game hot, eager to build on their exploits six days prior. So the 9/5 available with Betfred for them to take a first-half lead and see the game out seems good to me.

The price makes it a 35.7% implied probability.

Football Odds

Craig Halkett  to Receive a Card @ 23/10

Craig Halkett is such a card magnet that he has already sat out one suspension for an accumulation of bookings, and when he returned from that enforced lay-off he immediately saw yellow again in the draw with Dundee United.

A man with six cautions in the league this term, and seven in total, surely won’t go a third straight game without finding his way into the referee’s notebook.

The man in the middle, Calum Scott, gives out an average of four cards a game, so I’m taking on the implied 30.3% probability of Halkett seeing one at 23/10.

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