Seven days on from their League Cup clash at Ibrox, Rangers and Celtic reconvene at Celtic Park on Sunday lunchtime in the Scottish Premiership.
These two rivals met at Ibrox in the quarter-finals of the Scottish League Cup last Sunday, with Rangers cruising to a dominant 3-0 victory.
Captain Dan Neil scored a stunning double – either side of new signing Kevin Kelsy scoring his first goal for the club – to set up a semi-final tie with Aberdeen at Hampden.
Momentum is starting to grow for Derek McInnes’ side, with the Teddy Bears winning each of their last five and seven of their past eight matches in all competitions.
However, they still trail Celtic by five points in the Premiership table, with Martin O’Neill’s hosts winning each of their opening six league outings.
Despite that, the Hoops’ come into this clash off the back of consecutive defeats, as they followed up that loss at Ibrox last week by losing their Europa League opener 1-3 at home to Ferencvaros on Thursday night – helping land my ‘Bet of the Day”
How the bookies view it: Hoops on the drift
Following back-to-back defeats in the cup and in Europe, Celtic have drifted from 4/5 favourites out to 6/5.
Rangers are 2/1 to extend their winning run to six matches in all competitions, whilst the draw is 27/10.
Head to head: Rangers with the recent edge
As well as winning last weekend, Rangers have won three and lost just one of their previous seven league outings against Celtic (W3-D3-L1).
However, that Hoops victory did come in their last meeting at Celtic Park, with Martin O’Neill’s men winning 3-1 in May.
Players to watch: Colby to collect another card?
Colby Donovan had an afternoon to forget at Ibrox last weekend, as he was booked after just 27 minutes, with Rangers winger Djeidi Gassama in particular tearing him to shreds.
The Celtic right-back has now been carded in three of his last six appearances for the Hoops, and looks good value at 21/10 at bet365 to be shown another card.
Predicted line-ups:
Celtic are still without the injured Alistair Johnston, Callum Osmand and Jota.
Rangers will once again be missing the injured Daisuke Yokota, Lawrence Shankland and Youssef Chermiti, whilst Ryan Naderi is a doubt.
Celtic: Johnstone, Donovan, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Tierney, McGregor, Baur, Hassan, Nygren, Duran, Hogh
Rangers: Pandur, Sterling, Fernandez, Makhanya, Penrice, Neil, Raskin, Kim, Gassama, Naderi, Kelsy
Anything else catch the eye?
Rangers dominated Celtic in their League Cup victory last Sunday, but this will be a very different environment for the Teddy Bears, as they won’t have the crowd on their side, with no fans being allowed once again.
However, Celtic followed up that dismal defeat at Ibrox last weekend with a poor defeat at home to Ferencvaros on Thursday night, and I feel you’ve got to get the in-form visitors on side.
Rangers+0.25 Asian handicap pays 37/40 at bet365, which means that should the game end in a draw, we will still receive a half-stakes winner.
GambleAware