Scottish League
2010-02-28 - Rangers vs Celtic
A Sports Betting Pick by Stephen
Football: Scottish Premier League
Sunday 28th February 2010 - Kick Off 12.30pm
Rangers (1st) Home Record W9 D3 L0
Celtic (2nd) Away Record W7 D2 L4
Its one of the biggest derbies in world football and Rangers are 7 points clear with a game in hand as they face their Old Firm rivals Celtic for the third time this season on Sunday afternoon. They would most certainly be happy with a draw but no doubt would love to beat Tony Mowbary's side for the second time this season.
Rangers home record has been outstanding this season with 9 wins and 3 draws in the SPL. They have lost only once in the league all season and have a strike partnership of Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd who have 34 SPL goals between them.
When matched against Celtic's dodgy defence you would have to fancy Rangers to find the net on Sunday and possibly a couple of times. But Walter Smith's side have had their fair share of luck in recent months, in particualar at Celtic Park where they were outplayed but drew 1-1 and late goals saw them draw against Hearts and Motherwell in recent weeks. This is a derby and favourites Rangers cannot take anything for granted.
Much of the hype around this latest Old Firm game will be centred around the performance of Celtic's on loan striker Robbie Keane. However it has emerged today that Keane has not trained all week with an injury and boss Tony Mowbary has not revealed what it is but Keane's involvement has been put in doubt. This would be a major blow for Celtic as Keane has certainly performed well for the Hoops so far and as a Celtic fan Keane would no doubt love to play in this fixture.
Celtic's away form has been inconsistent to say the least, especially their defending on the road. The have conceded 19 goals away from home which is more than the likes of Hearts, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock. And they will face the SPL's best strikeforce on Sunday. But they are the best scorers away from home with 26 and managed 8 goals in their last 2 away games. However Celtic will have to go for the win so we can expect an attacking formation from them but their defence will be up against it with the young and inexperienced Josh Thomson possibly partnering an inconsistent Darren O Dea in centre of defence.
RANGERS LAST 5 GAMES W3-D2-L0
Rangers 1-0 St Mirren ( Scottish Cup Replay )
Rangers 3-0 Hibernian
Motherwell 1-1 Rangers
St Mirren 0-0 Rangers ( Scottish Cup )
Rangers 2-0 St Johnstone (CIS Cup Semi Final)
CELTIC LAST 5 GAMES W3-D1-L1
Celtic 1-0 Dundee United
Aberdeen 4-4 Celtic
Celtic 2-0 Hearts
Dunfermline 2-4 Celtic (Scottish Cup)
Kilmarnock 1-0 Celtic
THE BETTING VERDICT
It's always tough to call the big derbies but this game definitely has the recipe for a few goals.
OVER 2.5 GOALS at 5/6 is the bet for me.
The Pick :
Rangers 2-2 Celtic or Rangers 2-1 Celtic
