CELTIC and Hearts could barely had more contrasting starts to the season and they meet on Saturday in the resumption of the league campaign.
The Hoops have been in ominous form this season. They hadn't needed to get out of second gear ahead of last week's Old Firm showdown and they certainly didn't when they played Rangers.
A 3-0 romp was the very least their dominance deserved and with significant player investment finally in the likes of record transfer Arne Engels, then their squad looks exceptionally strong, certainly for Scottish standards.
Brendan Rodgers has got his men to kick on from an encouraging pre-season and already they look like a juggernaut.
The opposite is true for a struggling Hearts side who are already 11 points behind Celtic after collecting just a single point and being turfed out of the Europa League by a bang average Czech side, Viktoria Plzen.
The knives are well and truly out for manager Steven Naismith which makes the decision to offer him a new contract recently all the more bizarre.
He brought in plenty of summer transfers but they have failed to gel at all and they can't be relishing this.
How the bookies view it: Hearts huge underdogs
Celtic are as short as 1/6 in places although there is still some 1/5 available with Ladbrokes.
Hearts have been on the drift out to 16/1 with William Hill and the draw is 13/2 with Paddy Power.
Recent head to heads: Celtic Hearts broken
Hearts had a very good record last term against the champions. They beat them home and away. In fairness, Celtic comfortably won the other two games.
Players to watch: Maeda on fire
Daizen Maeda has started the season in fantastic form and he grabbed his customary goal against Rangers last week. He was on international duty with Japan last week too. He is 6/4 to score anytime with bet365.
Lawrence Shankland is Hearts' talisman but he has yet to catch fire this season. He could badly do with a spark in the east end of Glasgow and the Jambos skipper is 19/5 to score with UniBet.
Predicted line-ups:
Celtic have a clean bill of health and new signings Alex Valle, Arne Engels, Auston Trusty and Luke McCowan could all start from the bench again.
Hearts are still missing Calem Nieuwenhof and Beni Baningime.
Celtic: Scheichel, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor, Hatate, Bernando, McGregor, Maeda, Kyogo, Kuhn.
Hearts: Gordon, Kingsley, Halkett, Kent, Salazar, Oda, Devlin, Boateng, Grant, Oda, Shankland, Vargas.
Anything else catch the eye?
It's very hard to make a case for anything other than a comprehensive Hoops win against a Hearts side who seem bereft in confidence after six defeats in a row.
Hearts have scored just two goals all season and both of them were consolation strikes. The obvious call here is for Celtic to win to nil at 21/20 with 10Bet.
Celtic are almost evens – at 99/100 with William Hill – to win minus two goals on the handicaps and you have to think they can cover that.
And Paddy Power's 13/10 for the hosts to win both halves looks a shout too. Celtic fans don't have much sympathy for the opponents and will urge their favourites to for their throats.
This Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Hearts will be played on Sep 14, 2024 and kick off at 15:00. Check below for our tipsters best Celtic vs Hearts prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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