CELTIC resume their defence of the Scottish Premiership with a home game against St Johnstone on Saturday afternoon.
Brendan Rodgers’ side failed to capitalise on Rangers’ shock 2-1 defeat against Motherwell two weeks ago when crashing to a 2-0 defeat at Hearts.
That setback means the Hoops remain second in the table and two points behind their fierce rivals with nine rounds of fixtures left to play.
However, Celtic did make an immediate return to winning ways, albeit unconvincingly, with a 4-2 Scottish Cup quarter-final victory over Livingston last Sunday.
St Johnstone, meanwhile, were held to a 1-1 draw by Livi in their last Scottish Premiership outing a fortnight ago.
Craig Levein’s ninth-placed side currently have a four point buffer between themselves and the relegation play off spot, though they face a tall order if they are to increase that gap in Glasgow this weekend.
Outright Betting
Celtic are short priced 1/9 (Bet 365) favourites to win their penultimate Scottish Premiership home game before the forthcoming split.
St Johnstone picked up a point at Parkhead earlier this season but the same outcome on Saturday is as big as 9/1 (PaddyPower) while the Perth outfit are a whopping 25/1 (William Hill) to pocket all three points.
Outright Betting
With Celtic simply unbackable at the above-mentioned price, I’ll dip into the Bet Builder and throw together Celtic to Win, Under 4.5 Goals, Celtic Most Corners and Over 0.5 St Johnstone Cards at 4/5 (Bet Victor).
Aside from their 7-1 demolition of Dundee last month, Brendan Rodgers’ side have been making heavy weather of their home games in recent months, with four of their last six league games at Celtic Park featuring Under 2.5 goals.
What’s more, 16 of Celtic’s overall 21 Scottish Premiership league victories this term have produced Under 4.5 match strikes, and another low-key success could be in store when they come up against St Johnstone side who will almost certainly opt for functionality rather than flair.
In fact, each of the Perth Saints’ eight league losses under Craig Levein’s pragmatic management have failed to break the 4.5 goal barrier, a sample that includes a combined total of three defeats against Old Firm opposition.
As such, I’ll back Celtic to get the job done in unspectacular fashion on Saturday, but to bump up the odds, I’ll also side with the hosts to win the corner count on an afternoon where will most likely dictate the tempo of their game.
The Hoops are averaging a league-high 9.48 corners per-game in the Scottish Premiership this season, a tally that rises to a towering 10.43 when operating on home territory.
To wrap up the 4/5 (BetVictor) Bet Builder, I’ll also back the visitors to pick up a minimum of one booking – something the McDiarmid Park men have done in each of their last 13 Scottish Premiership assignments.
This Bet Builder would have paid out when the pair last met back in December and the same formula looks worthy of interest this weekend at a backable price.
This Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and St Johnstone will be played on Mar 16, 2024 and kick off at 15:00. Check below for our tipsters best Celtic vs St Johnstone prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
