Scottish Football Betting: Celtic expected to win...and to perform

Scottish Football / John Girvan / 23 December 2009 / Leave a Comment

Aiden McGeady will be doing his best to get Celtic back to winning ways

"A necessity for points and perhaps a performance also should see this run continue. Back Celtic -2.0 at 2.04 in the Asian Handicap."

After last week's shock defeat, Celtic will be keen to return to winning ways and that should mean an impressive performance in addition to three points. John Girvan tells us what the best bet in that match is, plus the other picks from Scottish Football over the next few days.

Rangers scored in the first 10 minutes of a home match for the fifth game in a row last week and this sent them well on their way to a "Half-Time/Full-Time" trouncing of Motherwell. An Anthony Stokes double made Hibs -0 an even money steal at Pittodrie and it's just as well given Sunday's match at Tynecastle. Few would have seen that result coming, especially with Celtic taking the lead, but that's football.

Profit/Loss: + 3.31pts

It's still early days in the title race but Celtic will feel that they can't afford anything other than a win from their Boxing Day home fixture with Hamilton Accies.

At [1.23] it looks a home banker but Billy Reid's men are in their best form of the season with three wins and two draws in the last six. Celtic seem to have hit a little bit of form themselves however and will be out to prove that last week's 2-1 defeat at Hearts, which ended a three game winning streak, was just a blip.

Hamilton are contained within a pocket of four clubs in the bottom six who are all within four points of basement boys Falkirk. This includes Hamilton, St Mirren and St Johnstone who have all lost by at least a two goal margin at Celtic Park this season. A necessity for points and perhaps a performance also should see this run continue. Back Celtic -2.0 at [2.04] in the Asian Handicap.

Jim Jeffries' Kilmarnock are just a point off bottom spot and won't relish their Boxing Day trip to Tannadice. The Ayrshire side amassed four points from their two visits here last season but with just one win and a one draw from their last seven, building on this could be a bridge too far.

Fourth placed Dundee United will be hungry for three points that could help cut the five point gap on third placed Hibs. Last week's tie at Hamilton was postponed but beforehand The Terrors managed three wins and two draws from their last six. This included a home defeat to Rangers and in their six other home ties they have a respectable four wins and one draw.

Killie have just about the worst away record in the SPL with just one win and one draw from seven matches. They have scored only twice on the road and on current form it looks like United will get a long awaited home win over Kilmarnock. [1.73] in the match odds is decent and I like the look of Dundee United -1.0 at [2.2] in the Asian Handicap.

There is a massive game at Easter Road on Sunday where league leaders Rangers are the visitors. Hibs are just five points behind Sunday's opponents so a victory will surely see them being regarded as serious title contenders. Tune into Sky Sports 3 from 11:30am for what promises to be a cracker.

John Hughes' side have won three of their last four in the league and are on an unbeaten run that stretches back to September. They have shown exceptional home form this season with six wins from eight games where the only slip ups came via a narrow 1-0 defeat to Celtic and a 1-1 draw with Dundee United.
Easter Road is a tough venue, especially this season, but Rangers have a reasonable record here with three wins and three draws in their last six league visits. Walter Smith's men are also a team bang in form at present, scoring 15 goals in four straight league wins.

Rangers ([1.94]) are currently placing a lot of emphasis on taking the game to their opponents and pressing them high up the park. If this continues it will be tough for Hibernian ([4.5]) but if they sit back and wait for things to unfold, it could go either way.

On this basis it's difficult to speak with much certainty regarding the match odds and like Rangers visit to Pitoddrie last month, or Celtic's recent defeat at Tannadice, the value lies in siding with the hosts. Back Hibernian +1.0 in the Asian Handicap at around [2.0].

Recommendations:

Celtic -2.0 @ [2.04] (1pt)

Celtic/Dundee United multiple @ [2.04] (2pts)

Dundee United -1.0 @ [2.2] (1pt)

Hibernian +1.0 @ [2] (1pt)