SlipsTips Tips: Rangers vs Celtic

SlipsTips shares his favourite fancy from Sunday's hotly-anticipated Old Firm Scottish Cup semi-final showdown between Celtic and Rangers at Hampden.

Rangers vs Celtic (Sunday, 13:30)

Old Firm rivals Celtic and Rangers will go toe-to-toe for the chance to take on Inverness in this season’s Scottish Cup final when they square off in Sunday’s semi-final at Hampden.

Having already lifted the League Cup and being on the verge of retaining their Scottish Premiership crown, Celtic are dreaming of a domestic treble in the 2022-23 campaign.

As for Rangers, retaining the Scottish Cup represents their only realistic chance at silverware this season, with Michael Beale hoping that he can emulate the success of his predecessor in last season's competition.

While it’s often said that form goes out of the window in Old Firm clashes, it’s hard to argue against Celtic here as general 11/10 favourites given that they have dominated this fixture this season.

Although the Bhoys will have their backers at the above-mentioned price, I’m more attracted to the even-money on offer with William Hill on Celtic to score Over 1.5 Goals.

As already alluded to, Celtic have had the upper hand across the previous four meetings between the pair this season, claiming top honours on three occasions while sharing the spoils on the other.

What’s more, the Hoops have scored two or more goals in each of those four contests, not to mention they have delivered multiple strikes in a whopping 37 of their 40 domestic fixtures this season so far.

That doesn’t augur well for a Rangers side who have looked more than a little shaky at the back in recent months, with Michael Beale's men filing just two shutouts in their last nine attempts.

It’s also worth pointing that the Light Blues’ backline has been breached twice or more in four of their last five outings, one of which was against their fierce rivals only three weeks ago.

With all that in mind, backing Celtic to strike twice in Sunday’s semi-final at evens (William Hill) is a price that definitely represents value.