Falkirk and Ayr face off in a huge top of the table clash in the Scottish Championship on Saturday. The two teams are separated by just 2 points at the summit of the standings ahead of this showdown.

Falkirk are odds-on favourites for the win here, but they are unlikely to have things all their own way against in-form Ayr who look well placed to score at least once on Saturday. Scott Brown’s side have failed to hit the back of the net in just 4 of their 23 Scottish Championship assignments this season so far. What’s more, the Honest Men have triumphed in 6 of their last 7 league games, one of which was a thumping 5-2 win over Falkirk.

While John McGlynn’s hosts returned to winning ways with a 5-2 win of their own last weekend, they have been far from bulletproof defensively of late. In fact, the Bairns’ backline has been breached in each of their last 3 home games across all competitions, shipping multiple goals against both Livingston and Partick Thistle over the last 2 weekends. Armed with the joint-top goalscorer in the division, Ayr have the ammunition to make their mark at the Falkirk Stadium.

With fellow title challengers Falkirk and Ayr locking horns this weekend, Livingston can take full advantage by defeating Dunfermline at home. The Lions boosted their automatic promotion hopes with a hard-fought 2-1 win at league leaders Falkirk a fortnight ago. David Martindale’s men have since kept the feelgood factor flowing by securing a quarter-final spot in the Scottish Cup with a comfortable 3-0 win over Cove Rangers.

Livingston have done the majority of their best work at home this season, winning 8 of their 11 league games in front of their own supporters. They have seen off both Airdrie and Hamilton in each of their last 2 home games and they should prove too strong for another of the division’s strugglers in the shape of Dunfermline.

The Pars are the very definition of a work in progress under new manager Michael Tidser. While they claimed a morale-boosting 3-1 win over Raith Rovers in their last league outing, Dunfermline have since fallen to a 3-0 defeat at out-of-sorts Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup. Tidser’s team were also turned over 3-0 by rock-bottom Airdrie in their most recent league game away from home, which doesn’t bode well for their chances against Livingston.

Dundee’s home fixtures rarely fail to produce goals, and for that reason, backing their Saturday clash against Aberdeen to finish with at least 3 strikes is excellent value.

The form of the Dark Blues has varied wildly in recent weeks. They suffered successive 6-0 losses against Hearts and Celtic but bounced back last weekend with a 4-0 win over Airdrie in the Scottish Cup. These results only serve to highlight the capability of Tony Docherty’s side of both scoring and conceding.

At home this season, 16 of their 18 matches have yielded at least 3 goals, including their previous home fixture against Aberdeen, which finished 2-1 in the Dons’ favour.

The form of Jimmy Thelin’s men has faded dramatically since those autumn days. They have conceded at least 2 in 5 of their last 6 league matches, which points to problems at Dens Park. Last weekend’s 3-0 win over Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup, meanwhile, suggests they may have rediscovered some of their offensive efficiency that has been sorely lacking in recent league matches when chances have been created but all too regularly passed up.

Both previous matches between these sides have seen at least 3 goals, expect this trend to continue at Dens.

Cove Rangers are an attractive price to overcome an Annan outfit that has been in better form lately, but faces a long journey north on Saturday.

The form of the Aberdeen club has been sound of late. Although they needed a last-minute goal to rescue a point against Montrose in midweek, they have won 4 of their previous 6 in the league, notably racking up big wins against in-form clubs Inverness, Stenhousemuir and, most recently, Arbroath.

Paul Hartley’s side dominated the midweek match against the Mo before Findlay Marshall’s late leveller, and will hope to continue that momentum into the weekend.

Annan have not travelled well this season, and while they actually won in Cove on the opening day of the season, they have only picked up victories on their travels on 2 occasions since. They do come into this encounter off the back of successive wins over Kelty and bottom club Dumbarton, but they were outshot by the Sons last weekend.

Annan, who have the second-poorest defensive record in the league, are unlikely to find Cove, who are the league’s top scorers, as wasteful as their midweek opponents.

The clash between Stirling and Forfar on Saturday is a surprisingly attractive price to produce at least 3 goals given the recent history of games between these clubs lately.
 
This will be the fourth meeting of these sides this season, with each of the 3 previous games having produced at least 3 goals. Indeed, the last couple of games have finished 2-2 through 90 minutes, suggesting another close-run thing at Forthbank.
 
This bet is driven primarily by Stirling’s recent record of being involved in high-scoring matches. The Binos are the division’s joint second-highest scorers with 36 goals, but also have the joint-poorest defence with 42 conceded. In total, their matches have produced the most goals in the division with 78, averaging 3.25 goals per game.
 
Forfar, by contrast, average 2.27 per match, but this is because of a poor attacking record that has seen them score just 19 times. Finding the net has not been a problem previously against Stirling, with 6 goals in 300 minutes of action against Albion.
 
With the hosts having only kept 1 clean sheet since October and 13 of their last 16 league games having produced at least 3 goals, the odds on another entertaining affair are excellent.

East Fife will resume their push for automatic promotion in Scottish League Two with a home game against Bonnyrigg Rose on Saturday. Dick Campbell’s side are 4 points clear of Peterhead at the top of the table after battling their way to a 1-0 win at Spartans last weekend.

That latest victory means East Fife have now collected maximum points from 7 of their last 8 Scottish League Two assignments. Thus, the high-flying Fifers hold plenty of appeal to continue their strong vein of form by bagging another victory against Bonnyrigg this weekend.

Calum Elliot’s side are languishing in the lower reaches of the fourth tier following last week’s 4-3 defeat when playing host to Peterhead. That latest setback arrived fresh off the back of a 3-0 loss away to Elgin last midweek. That was Bonnyrigg’s fifth successive defeat on the road and that trend looks set to continue when they travel to the home of the league leaders this weekend.

East Fife romped to a 5-0 victory when they faced Bonnyrigg at home earlier this season and the high-flying hosts’ superior class should tell at Bayview again this weekend.