IT'S the first Old Firm showdown of the season and punters all seem to want to get on board with Celtic to draw first blood at home to Rangers.
Ange Postecoglou's champions are in vintage form right now and are scoring for fun. They have a 100 per cent record in all their games so far and have rattled in 15 goals in a week, including the now infamous 9-0 annihilation of Dundee United on Sunday.
Celtic appear to have recruited well and have seriously tooled up from last term where they regained their title.
However, it would be foolish to write off Rangers as PSV Eindhoven and plenty of European big guns can attest to. Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side were given next to no chance after a 2-2 first leg draw in the Champions League play-ofs, but they went to the Netherlands and shrugged off intimidatory fan behaviour to deservedly win.
And Rangers were also on the drift before that game too with punters.
Both sides look like they will finish a country mile ahead of the rest this season with very few points being dropped elsewhere. So Glasgow derbies will take on even greater significance this season…as if any extra edge was needed.
How the bookies view it
There's been money for Celtic this week and they are now odds-on across the board. They can be backed at 19/20 with SBK
Rangers will have their backers at 3/1 with William Hill. The draw is available at 13/5 with McBookie.com.
Recent head to heads
Celtic won two, lost one and drew once in their league meetings with Rangers last season including a hugely important 3-0 success at Parkhead.
But Rangers did win the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden.
Players to watch
Celtic's Japanese magician Kyogo Furuhashi has now scored in his last four games and helped himself to a hat-trick against Dundee United last week before being rested in midweek against Ross County. He is 6/4 with BetVictor to score here.
Antonio Colak has been Rangers' hero this season with seven goals in nine games after shunting Alfredo Morelos out the team. He is 9/4 to mark his Old Firm debut with a goal at Paddy Power.
Anything else catch the eye?
It's hard to see Rangers being able to prevent Celtic from scoring a couple of goals here. They have been relentless recently and there remains question marks about that Rangers defence.
The obvious call here is Celtic to score over 1.5 goals which means the result doesn't matter as long as they score twice. That's an enticing 17/20 with McBookie.com.
There's every chance Celtic will try and repeat that 3-0 win where a first half blizzard blew away Rangers, who may well treat this like a European game. Take the 8/5 on Celtic to be leading at the interval with William Hill.
Both sides can play with width and it's been well documented on here about Celtic corners, but Rangers should contribute here too. Nothing fancy, but the 20/23 with Boylesports on over 10.5 corners looks a solid call.
This Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Rangers will be played on Sep 3, 2022 and kick off at 12:00. Check below for our tipsters best Celtic vs Rangers prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
