Rangers v Celtic Match Result
The first Old Firm derby of the season takes place on Sunday lunchtime when Rangers entertain Celtic. It’s been a difficult campaign for the home side who are yet to win a Scottish Premiership clash. They began with a 1-1 draw away to Motherwell before a distinctly underwhelming 1-1 scoreline against Dundee.
More recently came a 1-1 draw at St Mirren and it’s fair to say that there’s pressure on the new Rangers manager already. It’s no exaggeration to say that Martin could make an early departure from Ibrox should the team fail to get the right result in this Old Firm derby. As you might expect, they are the big outsiders to topple Celtic.
As things stand, the Gers are 3.20 to win the game which gives them a slightly bigger than 30% chance of securing the spoils. They’re the outsiders to win this big clash, with the team having already played ten games coming into this encounter. Their season started as early as 22 July where they played Panathinaikos although it looks set as though their Champions League campaign will be over before this game is played.
A 3-1 home defeat against Club Brugge was a kick in the teeth and Celtic might be able to take advantage of a team who are low on confidence. The Bhoys will have been involved in European competition themselves in the week, hoping to land a victory against Kairat Almaty after being surprisingly held to a goalless draw in the first leg.
Aside from this, Brendan Rodgers’ side have won all their other encounters. They opened with a 1-0 victory against St Mirren before a 2-0 success away to Aberdeen. More recently, there was a 3-1 triumph against Livingston. According to the betting odds, there’s a close to 50% chance that Celtic will leave Ibrox which might see the home team’s manager leave.
Goals Under/Over
Goals could be on the cards in this Old Firm derby according to the latest odds. According to the prices, there’s a 65% chance that we see the goal tally go over the 2.5 mark. However, Celtic’s first match only involved a single goal and then only two were scored at Pittodrie when they claimed a victory. It’s clear that Brendan Rodgers’ team are running a tight ship right now. Similarly, all three of the Rangers games so far have ended in a 1-1 draw.
In fact, the only goal that Celtic have conceded at the time of writing was a consolation goal from Falkirk in the Scottish League Cup. Kasper Schmeichel is a safe pair of hands between the sticks and he’s protected by players such as Hayata Inamura and Dane Murray. Meanwhile, it certainly looks as though the Scottish champions can pilfer goals thanks to Benjamin Nygren.
BTTS
It's likely that both teams will score according to the Scottish Premiership betting sites. Three of the five Old Firm clashes saw BTTS Yes happen last season, with the latest encounter on 4 May seeing a 1-1 draw at Ibrox. Previously to this, there was a March encounter where Rangers came away with a surprise 3-2 success in a clash where there were eleven shots on target.
There was also a 3-3 draw in the Scottish League Cup back in December, although there were a couple of games which ended with BTTS No. There was a Celtic 3-0 win back in September before Rangers got their revenge with the same winning scoreline later in the campaign.
There’s a 70% chance of BTTS Yes happening in the eyes of the bookies and perhaps the odds are too short for this selection. Celtic are yet to concede an SPL goal this term and Rangers can ill-afford to lose this clash after such a slow start. Therefore, perhaps we will see a cagier encounter than the bookies suggest.
First Goalscorer
Benjamin Nygren arrived at Celtic Park this summer and the Swede has hit the ground running for the Scottish champions. The 24-year-old was signed from Nordsjaelland after scoring a lot of goals in the Danish league and he opened his account at Pittodrie when bagging. There was then a brace against Livingston and he’s the obvious port of call when it comes to finding the net.
Yang Hyun-Jun is yet to break his duck for Celtic although the South Korean forward is likely to register a goal or two. Johnny Kenny might also relish any opportunity that he’s given and the Irishman was off the mark for the season when scoring against Livingston. Coming off the bench, he can certainly make an impact.
Russell Martin will hope that his forward players can fire in this Old Firm derby. James Tavernier has already found the net three times this term, with goals coming against Motherwell, Dundee and Alloa. It’s clear that the 33-year-old offers a scoring threat and the same applies to Findlay Curtis who could be the teenage saviour for the Gers. The eighteen-year-old has bagged against Alloa and St Mirren in recent weeks.