The “Old Firm”

Glasgow Rangers are already 9 points behind Celtic in the table. Even with a win, the deficit would still be 6 points, but at least they would keep the chance of the championship alive. In the event of a defeat, this train is probably gone for good. There is currently not much to say for the hosts, Celtic have been too strong in the season so far. 

Rangers are certainly playing a rather disappointing season this year, after all, after only 19 matchdays, they are already 9 points behind leaders Celtic Glasgow. This prompted the club to change coaches. Michael Beale has been on the touchline since the end of November and has won all four of his previous games. Now he will play his first top game with the Rangers. Celtic certainly have less pressure this time, because even with a defeat, the title is unlikely to be taken away from them. A win would definitely decide the matter. After 18 wins from the first 19 games, this would be more than deserved. However, there is never a clear favorite in the Old Firm.

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Rangers analysis

To speak of a weak season for Rangers would be too pessimistic. Nevertheless, one expected more than a 9-point deficit to the lead in the table and this after only 19 matchdays. There must be a miracle for the championship title, is this miracle coach Michael Beale? He only took office as the new Rangers coach at the end of November. So far he has a squeaky clean record of 4 wins from 4 games. However, under him 3 out of 4 victories were won by just one goal. The team simply lacks sovereignty this year, even if the last league game so far was won 3-0.

Looking back, Rangers have a full 17-point lead over 3rd-placed Heart of Midlothian . They are therefore in no man's land in the table, but this still entitles them to qualify for the Champions League. The Rangers can therefore take a risk in the game against Celtic. After 2 games without conceding, it seems that defensively they have improved significantly recently. So far they have only conceded 3 fewer goals than their opponents.

Despite the current winning streak, they cannot keep up with their big competitor this year. Already 3 games ended with a draw and the Rangers had to admit defeat twice this year. They conceded their first defeat away against Celtic (4:0). Another surprising defeat came on matchday 14 away to St. Johnstone. Since then they have remained unbeaten for 6 games in a row. With a goal difference of 44:18 goals, they are the 2nd best value both offensively and defensively. Rangers' top scorer this season is Antonio Colak with 11 goals. This missed the last game against Motherwell, however.

There is one statistic this season where Rangers are ahead of their big rival and that is the home record. The hosts are ahead of the guests in the home table with 28 points . Admittedly, they also played one game less. Nevertheless, the Rangers are extremely strong at home, which is also shown by the balance sheet. 9 out of 10 home games could be won, another ended in a draw. So they're still undefeated at home. They are at the top here both offensively and defensively. 28 goals were scored in 10 games and only 5 goals were conceded. On average, this results in only 0.5 goals conceded per game.

No fewer than 7 players are currently out due to injury , including some top performers and regular players. In defense, this affects the Swede Filip Helander, as well as John Souttar and Ridvan Yilmaz. Another construction site is currently the central midfield where with Steven Davis, Nnamdi Ofoborh and Ianis Hagi 3 players are out. With Tom Lawrence they also have to do without an important player on the wing.

Celtic analysis

They are the best team in Scotland in recent years. They have failed to win the Scottish Premiership just once since 2011 . This was in the 2020/21 season when they had to settle for second place behind Rangers. After reclaiming the championship title last year, they are now on the verge of successfully defending it. The season so far has been simply outstanding. With the 2nd victory over the Rangers this season, the title could certainly not be taken away from them this year, the lead over the hosts would then be too big. More betting tips for the Scottish League and other top European leagues can be found in the Betting Tips Predictions .

Celtic's season so far is historically good and should they be able to complete the season at this pace it would be the most successful in history. So far they have won 18 games from 19 games. They already have 54 points and could match the record of 106 points from the 2016/17 season. Incidentally, the only defeat was against FC St. Mirren on the 8th matchday. This game was lost 2-0. Since then, 12 games in a row have been won again. The team can convince this year especially offensively. With 61 goals on the account they score more than 3.00 goals per game. The 15 goals conceded is also the best value of all teams.

The club was also represented in the UEFA Champions League group stage. In a group with Donetsk, Leipzig and Real Madrid, they ultimately had no chance of entering the knockout phase. After 6 group games they were without a win and only had 2 points in their account. This was only enough for the last place in Group F. The two draws came against the Ukrainian representative Shakhtar Donetsk. In the games against Leipzig and Real Madrid, on the other hand, they hardly had a chance. This is also shown by the goal ratio, which ended up being 4:15 hits. Against Real Madrid alone they conceded 8 goals in 2 games. 

The club spent a lot of money in the summer and strengthened itself. The club has invested more than €20 million in new players. Among other things, the offensive player Jota and the central defender Cameron Carter-Vickers were signed, both of whom are now among the top performers. Jota is one of the top scorers in the league with 5 goals and 6 assists. But the top scorer at Celtic is the Japanese Kyogo Furuhashi. With 14 goals, he is the top scorer in the league. He also contributed a goal in the 0:4 win against Hibernian on the last day of the game. Coach Ange Postecoglou therefore has little reason to change the team in the top game against Rangers.

Rangers - Celtic: What to expect? 

Although Celtic have dominated this season, that doesn't automatically mean they are the clear favorites in the Old Firm. The duels in the recent past are too balanced for that. In the last 3 duels alone there was a win and a draw. In addition, Celtic could only win one of the last 5 duels against Rangers away from home. In the past 5 duels, Celtic only had to accept one defeat. In 4 of the last 6 league games between these two teams, more than 2.5 goals were scored. In the only duel so far this season, Celtic was able to win quite clearly with 4:0.

The direct duels between the two have been quite balanced in the recent past. However, Celtic are having an outstanding season so far and are quite simply the better team. We would therefore recommend a Double Chance X/2 bet . The Rangers also presented themselves in the first 4 games under the new coach very offensively. We could definitely expect a scoring Old Firm. For the tip Over 3.5 goals you already get a high rate of 2.9. You are probably on the safe side with a bet on Over 2.5 goals.

• Celtic X2 double chance at odds of 1.39
• Over 3.5 goals at odds of  2.9
• Over 2.5 goals at odds of 1.8

* All odds and markets are correct at time of publication and subject to change.