Celtic will look to keep the pressure on Premiership leaders Hearts as they welcome rivals Rangers to Celtic Park in the final Old Firm of the season.
Celtic recorded their fourth consecutive win in the Premiership last weekend, as they secured a 1-2 victory at Easter Road against 10-man Hibs.
That result moved Martin O’Neill’s men level on points with leaders Hearts for 24 hours, until the Jambos regained their three-point advantage after coming from a goal down to beat Rangers.
That’s now back-to-back losses for Danny Rohl’s men after losing 2-3 at home to Motherwell the week before, ending their title hopes.
Whilst that loss in Gorgie was only their fourth defeat in the Premiership all season – three of which have come against Hearts – the Teddy Bears are seven points behind the Maroon half of Edinburgh with just three games to play.
How the bookies view it: Celtic favourites
Celtic are favourites to record a fifth consecutive win in the Premiership on Sunday, with bet365 pricing a home success at 11/10.
Rangers are 21/10 to put a halt to their two-game losing streak, whilst the draw is 27/10.
Head to head: Five unbeaten for Gers
Rangers are actually unbeaten in each of their previous five Premiership matches against their Old Firm rivals (W3-D2-L0), including a 1-3 success on their last visit to Celtic Park at the turn of the year.
However, the Hoops have dumped Rangers out of both competitions this season, beating them after extra time in the semi-finals of the League Cup in November and in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup at Ibrox in March on penalties.
Players to watch: More Maeda magic?
Daizen Maeda comes into this clash in good form, with the Japanese finding the back of the net in each of his previous three appearances, scoring four goals, and is priced at 17/10 at William Hill to get on the scoresheet again.
Youssef Chermiti has bagged a couple of braces against Celtic since the turn of the year – including when the sides last met at Celtic Park – and he is 15/8 at PaddyPower to score against Celtic for a fifth time this season.
Backed a player to find the net? Check our Goalscorer Betting guide to see how the markets work and where to find value.
Predicted line-ups:
Celtic will be missing the injured Colby Donovan, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Julian Araujo, Callum Osmand, Jota and Tomas Cvancara.
Rangers appear to have a fully-fit squad, with only youngster Bailey Rice out injured.
Celtic: Sinisalo, Johnston, Trusty, Scales, Trusty, McGregor, Engels, Yang, Nygren, Tounekti, Maeda
Rangers: Butland, Sterling, Djiga, Fernandez, Rommens, Diomande, Raskin, Chukwuani, Naderi, Moore, Chermiti
Anything else catch the eye?
In truth, neither of these two clubs deserves to be champions this season, and whilst Rangers are out of it, Celtic are still right in it and you’ve got to fancy them to come out on top here.
The Hoops have fired in 2+ goals in 10 of their previous 13 Premiership fixtures, and face a Gers backline that has kept a solitary shutout across their previous 11 league outings, shipping multiple goals in each of their last four and seven of their past nine.
Rangers’ matches in the Scottish Premiership have gone goal-crazy over the past couple of months, with their previous 11 clashes averaging a whopping 4.63 goals per game, with Over 2.5 Goals landing in nine (82%) of them, whilst nine (91%) have produced goals at both ends.
Both Teams to Score & Over 2.5 Goals have also landed in nine of Celtic’s last 11 league outings, and a repeat pays 4/5 at William Hill.
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