Rangers vs Celtic Prediction, Odds and Betting Tips: Two bets for the first Old Firm of 2025

Bitter Glasgow rivals Rangers and Celtic begin 2025 with their third meeting of the campaign. Having ran Celtic close last season, finishing just three points behind them in an enthralling title race, the complexion of this fixture is a little different this time around for Rangers.

Oli Nixon has previewed the match and supplied his best bets.

Brendan Rodgers’ men sit 14 points clear at the top of the table and are unbeaten domestically having conceded just four goals in their 18 league matches. The blue side of Glasgow are more concerned with looking over their shoulder at Aberdeen who are just two points further back.

However, a 3-3 draw in the league cup final between these sides that was decided on penalties last month suggests the magnitude of this derby can close the gap that exists across their seasons so far. Rangers have only won one of the last 17 head-to-heads though and so it may end up being another uphill battle for Philippe Clement’s side.

When analysing the data from these sides, it is important to remember that they both hold a significant advantage against all other sides in the division and for that reason, we’ll be focussing on the data from the six meetings between these sides under Rodgers and Clement. Those matches have seen an average of 17.83 goal kicks which is a little close for comfort to this line, however, recent games have seen totals of 14, 17 and 15. In fact, this bet would have landed in four of the six ties mentioned previously.

Rangers home games this season have averaged 15 goal kicks whilst Celtic’s games on the road have seen 17.57. Those games tend to see both sides dominating the ball with the opposition defending their own 18-yard boxes with eleven men behind the ball. This match will be much more even with both sides looking to get on the front foot and this tends to lead to less goal kicks.

One thing this game is not lacking in is feistiness with both teams keen to leave their mark on the other. Recent meetings have seen an average of 41.4 tackles and so it makes sense to get a player on side to get stuck in. Daizen Maeda makes just 1.23 tackles per 90 this season but he clearly enjoys the atmosphere of the Old Firm Derby as in his last five appearances in the fixture he’s made 15 tackles. In the two meetings this season, he’s made three and four tackles in all action displays.

Rangers are the Scottish Premiership’s fourth most tackled side with visitors to Ibrox averaging 16.89 tackles per game. Playing on the left side of Celtic’s front three, Maeda will be up against James Tavernier and Vaclav Cerny and that duo have drawn plenty of tackles this season. He’s made two or more tackles in seven of his eleven starts against Rangers and looks a lovely price to do so again here.

Rangers vs Celtic Lineups

The starting lineups for Rangers vs Celtic will be displayed in the graphic below once the team news has been announced.