Form shows Kilmarnock are best value in top-six market

Five games into last season’s Ladbrokes Premiership, it was doom and gloom for Kilmarnock fans, with just two points gained and a pair of 4-0 home defeats for their troubles. But there’s a different mood around Rugby Park right now, with a solid start suggesting a season of real improvement.

Draws with Dundee and Rangers, as well as victory at Hamilton Academical have given Killie five points from as many games.

While there’s still plenty of room for improvement, Killie’s level of performance is continuing to improve, especially in defence, meaning they’re well worth backing for a top-six finish at 9/2.

Having shipped 14 goals in their opening five games last time out, boss Lee Clark has tightened the side up since his February arrival, and they’ve conceded just seven times in their first five outings this season – including keeping Rangers at bay with just 10 men.

At the other end, Clark’s savvy signings have slotted in neatly and are already making contributions. Not least Ivorian hitman Souleymane Coulibaly who netted this outrageous overhead kick against Dundee at the weekend.

Elsewhere, Callum McFadzean – soon to return from injury – impressed in his opening few games, while yesterday’s signing Nathan Tyson certainly knows where the back of the net is, having scored over 100 goals in the English Football League.

The East Ayrshire outfit also seem to have settled on tactical systems that work, with Clark’s robust 4-5-1 limiting the usually expansive Dundee and Rangers, while the 4-4-2 used at New Douglas Park helped Killie produce a counter-attacking triumph, winning 2-1.

On that note, they’re increasingly good on the road, having won three of their last five away games, netting eight times in the process.

With a winnable run of games coming up, including fixtures against bottom two Partick Thistle and Inverness Caley Thistle in their next five outings, now is the time to back a top-half finish for Lee Clark’s men at 9/2, before those odds potentially tumble.

And there also looks to be plenty of value in backing Kilmarnock to beat Partick Thistle at 9/5 this weekend, with the Jags having lost all of their last four games.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing