Arbroath vs Dundee United Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Arbroath had a lucky escape last season. They were poor from the start of the season, but their collapse in the second half of the campaign had them on the brink of relegation from Scottish League Two. Eventually they were saved by the incompetence of East Stirlingshire, who finished seven points below them and got relegated. Arbroath only managed 39 points from 36 matches though, and they will be hoping to drastically improve this season.

A successful showing in the Scottish League Cup group stages would go a long way towards increasing confidence in the camp, but with both Dundee United and Inverness CT in their group it’s unlikely that they will be able to navigate safe passage into the knockout rounds.

Arbroath did manage to get a pre-season friendly win against Motherwell at the beginning of July, but that is their only victory in their last eight matches, and they have won just three of their last 18 games. They have lost 11 of these matches too.

Dundee United couldn’t find their own lucky escape. Their tragically bad start to the season ended with them being relegated with games to spare from the Scottish Premiership. They finished bottom of the table with a meagre 28 points from their 38 games, 15 adrift of safety.

They did improve in the second half of the season though as they won eight of their last 19 matches in all competitions and made it to the Scottish FA Cup semi finals, only to be defeated by eventual winners Hibernian.

Despite it ultimately proving fruitless, Dundee United were a much better side in the second half of the season, and they ended their stay in the top flight with an impressive 4-2 win at Kilmarnock. I’m expecting them to kick their season off with a win on Friday, and I think it could be a comfortable one.

Arbroath have lost by more than a single goal three times in their last seven matches, and all of those were against much weaker teams than Dundee United. My prediction is for a Dundee United -1 Handicap Win at excellent value odds of 13/10, and I’m going for a 3-0 correct score prediction as well at 10/1.