Rangers vs. Celtic Betting Tips: Best bets for the first Old Firm of the year

Rangers face Celtic on Monday and our man Jimmy The Punt is on hand to provide us with his best bets for the occasion. 

The Old Firm derby, a historic game between the two most successful Scottish clubs. Fiercely competitive, laced in narrative. 

A new era is drawing at Ibrox under the tutelage of Michael Beale.  There were eyebrows raised at his appointment, a man just 180 days into his first managerial job at QPR, who had sworn his allegiance to the London club amid interest from Wolves in the Premier League.

“Integrity is a real big thing for me and loyalty” he said on October 24, yet just 35 days later he was unveiled as the new Gers boss. 

While he has not exactly covered himself in glory, formerly Steven Gerrard’s assistant, he does know his way round Glasgow, and already had relationships with most of the squad. 

Four games in and it is the maximum points for the new boss. The first two were in dramatic fashion coming from behind to beat Hibernian and Aberdeen 3-2. The manner of the other two victories were much more satisfactory, scoring four against Ross County and Motherwell without response. 

The title will be all but out of their hands if they cannot take maximum points here as they would fall 12 points behind Celtic. 

The visitors have only lost once all season, and come into this having won the last 12 on the spin. With these sides last meeting ending 4-0 in Ange Postecoglou’s side favour, you can understand why the Hoops are 23/20 favourites.

Of the players to play over 1,000 domestic minutes for Celtic this season, only Kyogo Furuhashi (2.7) has averaged more shots per game than Matt O’Riley (2.2). 

He has hit this line in two thirds of his league starts, averaging 2.7 shots per 90, and had four attempts when these sides last met. 

Away from home is not quite as ambitious, but given the nature of this match, and what an away win would do for the visitors, I imagine he could go for the shoot on site approach.

Despite having 42 efforts in the Scottish top flight this campaign, O’Riley is yet to hit the back of the net. 

Since moving North of the border from MK Dons, he has had a direct hand in 13 goals, a G+A average of 0.49. 

In his maiden season, he found the net four times despite only starting 10 games, and based on that record anytime around 5/2 would be worth taking. 

The goals have dried up this campaign, though it is not for lack of trying, which is why I think his fortune is bound to change soon. 

Best of luck if you are backing any of these selections and please remember to gamble responsibly.