Scottish Cup showdown
By Cameron Gray
The Scottish Cup Quarter Final ties take place this weekend with several interesting looking matches.
The weekend kicks off on Saturday lunchtime, with Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes facing his former club, Aberdeen, at Pittodrie. Kilmarnock come into the clash in brilliant form with the Ayrshire side only having lost twice in 2024 so far.
Kilmarnock will look to continue their stellar season (Image: Getty Images)
Aberdeen have only won one game since Neil Warnock joined the club on the 5th of February, and that was against a poor Bonnyrigg Rose side. Kilmarnock come into the game as favourites having beaten Aberdeen the last three times the sides have met. A win for Kilmarnock will put them through to the Scottish Cup Semi Final for the first time since the 1996-97 season, when they won the competition.
Aberdeen desperately need a win (Image: Getty Images)
One of the easiest looking ties to predict is Celtic v Livingston at Celtic Park. Celtic Have often struggled against Livingston since they came back to the top flight in 2018.
In their first twelve games against Celtic since returning to the Premiership, the West Lothian side took points from the champions on eight different occasions including three 0-0 draws at Celtic Park.
However, since 2022 when Celtic broke their streak of poor results against Livi they have been rampant against them every time they have met, winning six out of the last six games.
Celtic need to bounce back after their 2-0 defeat to Hearts (Image: Getty Images)
This game is an opportunity for Celtic to bounce back after their loss to Hearts last weekend and take them back to Hampden for the first time since their treble winning game against Inverness.
Livingston look for a glimmer of hope in a very poor season (Image: Getty Images)
Rangers have a potentially tougher task on Saturday night with a battle in the capital against Hibs. This is a huge game for Rangers as they want to keep up their hunt for their first treble since the 2002-03 season.
If the Ibrox side manage to go on and win the treble, they will match the world record of domestic trebles won, a record currently held by Celtic.
Although they have only dropped points once in their last six games at Easter Road, this won’t be an easy game for Rangers, who played Benfica in Lisbon just three days before the Quarter Final meeting in Edinburgh.
Philippe Clement may be forced to make some changes for this match as it was a hard fought 2-2 draw.
Rangers drew 2-2 with Benfica in Lisbon (Image: Getty Images)
Hibs have had a whole week to prepare for the match and the side from Leith are in great form, unbeaten in their last five games.
Nick Montgomery will want to upset the league leaders (Image: Getty Images)
Rangers will be desperate to bounce back from last week’s league defeat to Motherwell.
Morton will want to continue their fairy-tale run (Image: Getty Images)
The weekend ends with the only lower league team left in the competition. Greenock Morton host Hearts, one of the most in-form teams in the country.
Under Steven Naismith, Hearts have only lost 1 game since the 10th of December, including two wins against Celtic in that time period.
But Morton won’t be an easy task for the Gorgie side. They were unbeaten in all competitions between the 12th of November and the start of March, but The Ton have started this month poorly losing both their games so far.
In the last round of the competition Morton knocked out Premiership opposition, Motherwell and will be hoping to repeat that feat on Monday night.
Although they could put up a tough fight for the Tynecastle side, the quality of the Scottish Premiership top scorer, Lawerence Shankland may be too much for the championship side and he will be desperate to add to the 27 goals he has already scored this season.