Celtic v Rangers Tips: Three bets for the feisty Old Firm
This weekend’s European tips come courtesy of Scotland as Celtic lockhorns with bitter foe Rangers.
The first few selections come via the 423rd Old Firm derby at noon in Celtic Park. The hosts will not be welcoming the champions as they have confirmed they will not be giving Rangers a guard of honour, as if this game needed any more spice. As for their team news, February’s Player of the Month Odsonne Edouard is set to lead the line. The Frenchman loves this fixture, best illustrated by the fact he has been directly involved in six goals in four appearances vs The Gers.
Steven Gerrard will be hoping his side can bounce back from their European despair as they were eliminated from the UEL on Thursday. Rangers boss could be without right-back Nathan Patterson, who picked up a knock vs Slavia Prague, and this could force Leon Balogun to slot in at right back with Filip Helander returning to the heart of defence.
The bookies cannot split these two pricing them both at 13/8- implied probability of 38%, however, in terms of value Rangers may be the pick as they have won 60% of games when priced accordingly.
With two goals over Rangers two legs vs Antwerp in the penultimate round of the Europa League, Ryan Kent has proved to be the man for the big occasion recently. It is also worth noting he scored the only goal of the game when these sides met at Celtic Park last season and I fancy history to repeat itself on Sunday afternoon.
Kent has found the net eleven times this campaign, four of which have come in his last seven appearances. He has always had an eye for goal and since the turn of the year he has started trying his look a lot more frequently. He has had at least one effort in all 15 of his appearances this year as he has averaged shots per game and racked up 17 shots on target!
With goals often hard to come by in this fixture- under 2.5 has landed in five of the last six head to heads- it may be worth taking Kent’s price of 21/2 to break the deadlock here with Unibet.
Stephen Welsh has not picked up a card since he returned from his loan at Greenock Morton in the Scottish Championship. There he picked up three in five appearances and I am hoping that the Celtic fan can get back to his cynical best as he opposes one of the biggest shysters in the UK; Alfredo Morelos.
El Buffalo has started 29 games in the Premiership and UEL this season and staggeringly at least one of the opposition's centre backs have been booked in 21 of those games! The Columbian is not fouled a freakishly high amount of times per game (1.7), however, he is pure box office and just has a knack of getting under the oppositions skin.
I am hoping Welsh’s inexperienced could get the better of him here.
Four of the last five games between these sides have seen a red card and as Celtic have finished two of the last four games with ten men I think it is worth delving into the red card markets here.
If you fancy something shorter, another red card here is 9/4 with William Hill, however, at 50/1 I like the look of the hosts centre back Stephen Welsh to get his marching orders.
As previously alluded to with the previous tout, the attraction with this angle is Welsh’s opposition number Morelos. In the 29 league and UEL games the Columbian has started, three of the oppositions centre backs have been sent off! Therefore, at odds of 50/1 the implied probability of this bet landing is 2%, however, an opposition CB has walked in 10.3% of Morelos starts for Rangers this campaign!
Best of luck if you are joining me with any of these selections and please remember to gamble responsibly.
