CELTIC and Rangers still have to meet three times this season and the first of them on Saturday could effectively see the Hoops seal the title in front of their own fans at Parkhead.
Ange Postecoglou's side will have the not-inconsiderable advantage of having 60,000 home fans baying for blood with away fans banned for the final two league games of the season. The Scottish Cup semi-final later this month will be split.
The yawning chasm between the Old Firm and the rest can be illustrated by the last time any of them dropped points in the league – apart from against themselves when they drew at the start of January – was November in Rangers' case and September in Celtic's case…both at St Mirren.
The nine point gap between them hasn't shifted since Giovanni van Bronckhorst was axed after that game in Paisley, but surely a home win which would increase the gap to 12 would end the title race with just seven games left after this.
As stated, both teams have been in ruthless form, yet there's a perception that Celtic are the better team when both are at their best and that's backed up by the fact that Celtic have won two and drawn the other and also won the League Cup Final in February.
How the bookies view it
Celtic are odds-on across the board and the best price currently is 3/4 with Coral.
Rangers can be backed at 7/2 with William Hill and the draw is 31/10 with McBookie.com.
Recent head to heads
As stated, the sides have met three times this season with Celtic winning the most recernt battle at Hampden 2-1 in the League Cup Final.
They required a late equaliser to draw 2-2 at Ibroc and hammered Rangers 4-0 at home back in September.
Players to watch
Kyogo Furuhashi missed an absolute sitter last week at Dingwall, but that hasn't happened too often this season. In fact, he's scored three goals against Rangers this season including the double that won Celtic the League Cup. He's an obvious choice to score anytime at 23/20 with BetVictor.
Malik Tillman has arguably been Rangers' best player this season and the on-loan Bayern Munich star looks a class act. He scored a double against Dundee United last week and there could be value at 19/5 with William Hill for the USA international to score anytime.
Anything else catch the eye?
Rangers boss Michael Beale got his team badly wrong at Hampden and it took them too long to lay a glove on Celtic. He needs all of his men to turn up, but the problem for him is the Celtic bench. Arguably, every one of the options from the bench are game changers in Celtic's case and they really should be able to justify favouritism here.
There's every chance it could be the same outcome as the League Cup Final and the value call here is Celtic to win and both teams to score at 23/10 with Boylesports.
Kevin Clancy is the ref and that could spell carnage, especially with Scottish football's lamentable and far-too-busy VAR set-up. There's an undercurrent of even more bad feeling that usual here with no away fans and we are very much due a red card here since we have now gone eight games without one.
Back a red card in the game at 5/2 with bet365.
This Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Rangers will be played on Apr 8, 2023 and kick off at 12:30. 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.
With just 4 domestic defeats at home in 7.5yrs I dont see too many problems for Celtic this weekend from an average Rangers side. Celtic too win by a couple and overdue a red card in this fixture as its been 0 reds in the last 8 meetings