Hibernian vs Kilmarnock Predictions

• Kilmarnock have lost 10 of their last 14 league games
• Killie boss Alex Dyer won just three of his first 12 league games
• The visitors have lost seven of their last eight away matches
• Over 2.5 goals landed in 10 of Hibs’ last 11 at home

Hibs hope for fast start

Jack Ross had Hibernian performing well before the Scottish Premiership came to a halt in March. The hosts were on for a top-half finish after a great run in 2020, which also took them to the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup. After a hefty break, can Hibs pick up where they left off?

They’ll be targeting a strong start to the campaign after a tricky opener last term had them hanging around the lower reaches of the table early on. Ross can’t have asked for a better opener to the campaign as he looks to continue improving his team, with Killie coming into this clash looking a little behind in their preparations for the campaign.

Troubles for Killie

The visitors brought back Alex Dyer in an attempt to create their impressive third-place finish in 2019 under Steve Clarke, with Dyer as his assistant. However, his step up to the top job has been a difficult one. The visitors were in awful form late in the previous campaign, losing 10 of their last 14 Premiership matches.

The visitors had Dyer in charge for 12 of those games, but he brought just three victories in that time. Things have hardly got better in the close season, as they confimed the signing of Danny Rogers only days before this game, avoiding going into the clash without a senior goalkeeper. Their transfer moves clearly aren’t inspiring much confidence, so we have little faith in them recovering their form.

Opportunity for Ross

The Hibs boss will see this as a great chance to lay down a marker going forward. Not only are they meeting an understrength team, but they face a side who lost seven of their last eight away trips. Killie were poor on the road in the previous campaign, while Hibs beat them at Rugby Park when the pair met in February.

Hibs have improved their squad over the summer and had already stepped up their performances towards the end of last season, so we are backing them to claim the points here. They’re well priced to see off a Killie side who are looking poor overall, so we’re starting our predictions by backing the home side to take all three points.

Meanwhile, Hibs have seen over 2.5 goals in 10 of their last 11 home games, while they could yet be caught out at the back. Killie did score in three of their final four away games of the previous campaign, so we are going with a 2-1 home win as our correct score prediction.