Rangers meet Celtic at Ibrox on Sunday in the traditional Old Firm New Year match the outcome of which could go a long way into deciding who takes the SPL title this season. A win for Rangers, would put them 2 points clear with two games in hand over their biggest rivals, but a win for the ‘Hoops’ would put them five points clear at the top. Bookmakers by and large have Rangers as even money favourites to claim the three points, but punters can snap up the 11/10 odds available on a Rangers win from Boylesports who also have a Celtic win and a drawn outcome both at 12/5.
The cold weather has had its advantages and disadvantages for Rangers; on the downside their programme has been severely disrupted, with only two games played in December, however on the plus side the break has allowed a number of players to recover from injury. This means that manager Walter Smith will have Kyle Lafferty, Sasa Papac and James Beattie all in contention for places as well as Steven Naismith, who has just about recovered from a hamstring strain. Rangers at least looked a very refreshed team when beating Motherwell 4-1 on Boxing Day, with Kenny Miller in sparkling form, netting a brace bringing his tally to 21 SPL goals for the season.
Meanwhile Celtic have at least managed one more game in December, but may regret that as captain, Scott Brown, got himself red carded in stoppage time in their match against Motherwell the other day and will miss out in this vital match. They also suffered injury blows to Olivier Kapo and Daryl Murphy who now look set to join top scorer Gary Hooper and the usually influential, Shaun Maloney on the sidelines. Possibly on the plus side is that manager, Neil Lennon can give a Celtic debut to new signing Freddie Ljungberg and will have the in form Paddy McCourt fit. It was McCourt in fact who netted the winner against Motherwell and he does not look a bad bet to score the opening goal in this match at 9/1.
Needless to say the favourite however to score the opening goal is the ever reliable Miller of Rangers with good looking odds of 7/2 offered by boylesports who also make Ljungberg an interesting betting option at 5/1 to get himself on the scoresheet at some point during the match.
The two teams last met in October at Parkhead, with Rangers winning somewhat comfortably by 3-1 with Miller leading the way with yet another brace; it was a win that underlined the dominance enjoyed by Rangers over their arch rivals in recent matches. In fact Celtic have not beaten Rangers in the SPL since December 2008, with Rangers winning four of the six games played between the two sides since then with two drawn. It is easy to understand why therefore that everything points to a Rangers victory in this match although even the most hardened punters would not be a 100% confident of that happening. The other interesting fact that the stats reveal is that apart from the last match, there has been very few goals scored, making the 5/6 odds on an under 2.5 goals in the match an excellent betting option.
In conclusion it seems difficult to support a Celtic win, they are without the inspirational Brown, they have injury problems and they the away team. Rangers on the other hand with only one defeat in the SPL this season and looking a refreshed outfit again, will be well up for the fight and should win this by at least two goals, an outcome which can be backed at 5/1 also with Boyles.
Rangers v Celtic Form
Check the season's statistics for both Rangers and Celtic, plus the odds ahead of Sunday's match.
Rangers v Celtic Tips
Tip #1: Rangers to win by 2 goals @ 5/1 with Boylesports.com
Tip #2: Kenny Miller to score opening goal in match @ 7/2 with Boylesports.com
Match Betting
11/10 Rangers
12/5 Draw
12/5 Celtic
Correct Score Odds
11/2 Rangers 1-0
6/1 Draw 1-1
7/1 Rangers 2-1
8/1 Rangers 2-0
8/1 Draw 0-0
8/1 Celtic 1-0
10/1 Celtic 2-1
14/1 Draw 2-2
First Goalscorer Odds
7/1 Kenny Miller
6/1 James Beattie
7/1 Anthony Stokes
7/1 Kyle Lafferty
7/1 Steven Naismith
8/1 Daryl Murphy
8/1 No Goalscorer
8/1 Georgios Samaras
10/1 Rory Loy
Odds supplied by Boylesports Bookmakers plus over 100 other markets on this match and all SPL fixtures, including live betting in-play.
Posted: Friday, 31st December 2010
Author: Rodney Wise
Tags: scottish premiership, ibrox park, rangers, celtic, boylesports,
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