It will be deja vu at Easter Road on Saturday as Hibernian host Dundee for the second time in the Scottish League Cup this season, after being drawn against each other in the last 16 of the competition.
The home side came out on top earlier this month against the Scottish Championship side, which confirmed their spot at the summit of Group B, with Dundee finishing in second place.
Match preview
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Hibernian have enjoyed their Scottish League Cup campaign so far, as Jack Ross's side have won all four of their matches including the 4-1 victory over this weekend's opponents on November 15.
The Edinburgh outfit have also defeated Brora Rangers, Cove Rangers and Forfar Athletic, scoring 10 goals across all their Group B matches.
Hibernian have failed to win any of their last three league games, however, drawing their last two outings 2-2 with Celtic and most recently St Johnstone on Tuesday night.
Jack Ross will be aiming to reach the latter stages of the competition and be in with a chance of winning the Scottish League Cup for the first time since the 2006-07 season.
Victory against Dundee would book their place in the quarter-finals and would be their third win in a row against the visitors.
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Dundee will be keen to avenge what happened against Hibernian earlier this month, as the 4-1 defeat at Easter Road has been their only setback in this season's Scottish League Cup.
Victory at home to Cove Rangers followed two wins against Forfar Athletic and Brora Rangers, which confirmed their place in the last 16.
Manager James McPake – a former captain of Hibernian between 2012 and 2014 – will be hoping that his squad have learnt from their defeat to Hibs and believes that his side can reach the quarter-finals for the first time since the 2017-18 campaign.
The Dark Blues, who last won at Easter Road back in the 2001-02 season, are looking for their first win in three matches in all competitions.
Hibernian Scottish League Cup form: WWWW
Hibernian form (all competitions): LWLWDD
Dundee Scottish League Cup form: WWWL
Dundee form (all competitions): WDDWLL
Team News
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Hibernian defender Lewis Stevenson (ankle) and midfielder Kyle Magennis (hamstring) remain sidelined.
Dillon Barnes is set to remain in goal ahead of Ofir Marciano after starting all four of the previous Scottish League Cup matches.
Former Liverpool and Rangers midfielder Charlie Adam, who has three goals in five Scottish Championship matches this season, is set to remain in the starting lineup alongside Shaun Byrne and Paul McGowan.
Full-back Christie Elliott, who scored against Hibernian in the loss a few weeks ago, is likely to start once again.
Hibernian possible starting lineup:
Barnes; McGinn, McGregor, Hanlon, Doig; Wright, Mallan, Hallberg, Murphy; Boyle, Nisbet
Dundee possible starting lineup:
Hamilton; Elliot, Kerr, McGhee, Marshall; Adam, Byrne, McGowan; McDaid, Mullen, Afolabi
We say: Hibernian 3-1 Dundee
Hibernian have a good record against Dundee and have scored 13 goals in their last four meetings against the Scottish Championship side. The visitors will want to give a good account of themselves, but that may not be enough to reach the quarter-finals of the Scottish League Cup.
Top betting tip
Oliver Thomas
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Hibernian win with a probability of 40.65%. A win for Dundee had a probability of 35.65% and a draw had a probability of 23.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Hibernian win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.68%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (7.12%) and 2-0 (5.77%). The likeliest Dundee win was 1-2 (8.06%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.71%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 7.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Hibernian would win this match.
