SPL Betting Preview: Celtic looking to put Champions League collapse behind them.

Scottish Football / John Girvan / 28 November 2008 / Leave a Comment

After Wednesday night's debacle in Denmark Celtic's European adventure is over for another season. The Bhoys will be looking to bounce back immediately in the league, and our man John Girvan believes they will do just that against Inverness this weekend...

Celtic crashed out of Europe on Tuesday night. Even the financial safety net of UEFA Cup football eluded them after snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in Aalborg. A 53rd minute header from Barry Robson looked as though it was sending Celtic on their way to a first away win in Europe's Premier Club competition since 1986.

It wasn't to be however and two late goals reduced them to a record of just one point from a possible 54 in their 18 Champions League Group Stage away ties - embarrassing! Not just for Celtic though but the whole of Scottish Football.

The current SPL Champions have managed to make it to the last 16 in the two previous campaigns whilst Rangers achieved the same feat in the 2005/06 season. New standards and hence greater expectations were set but this year has been a huge disappointment with no Scottish Club winning a single match in Europe.

Celtic skipper Stephen McManus described the atmosphere in the dressing room after Tuesday's game as "horrendous" and fellow defender Mark Wilson described the defeat as "probably the lowest point of my career". The manner of the defeat is what affected the Celtic players here but goal scorer Barry Robson added to these thoughts whilst insisting that there are strong characters in the dressing room who can bounce back from such a blow.

Manager Gordon Strachan will be counting on such characters over the coming weeks. His side are going well domestically and with a four point cushion are favourites in the Championship at [1.62]. Things can change drastically however and with trips to Falkirk and Hibernian on the horizon, not to mention Ibrox on the 27th December, its just as crucial for Celtic, as it is for Rangers ([2.64]), that they keep on winning as any slip-up will give the Ibrox outfit a sniff and the opportunity to build some momentum.

For this reason Celtic are very fortunate that the fixture compiling Gods handed them, on paper, an easy home match with Inverness this weekend. Had they been away from home this week and even been scheduled to go to The Caley Stadium it would have been a totally different ball game. Celtic notoriously struggle up there and it took almost an hour for them to get in front in October before holding off a late Caley come-back to grind out a 2-1 victory.

Inverness went down 5-0 at Ibrox four weeks ago but they have had some strange results this season and this coupled with the manner of Celtics exit from Europe in midweek makes the winning margin a tough one to call. I would say Celtic are certs in the match odds at [1.21] and I would probably cover correct scores of 2-0 and 3-0 with small stakes at [6.8] and [8.8] respectively.

There promises to be a cracker in the capital this weekend. 3rd in the table Hearts host 2nd placed Rangers and this one gets underway early on Saturday with the match being shown live on Setanta Sports.

The Ibrox men have made the trip to Tynecastle on league business a total of five times in the last three seasons and they have suffered mixed fortunes. This can be epitomised just by looking at last seasons games where Rangers were thumped 4-2 in September before returning in February and handing out a 4-0 drubbing. Two wins, two defeats and one draw since the 2005/06 season here and Hearts current form of four league wins on the trot suggest Rangers face a real test of their championship credentials on Saturday.

Gers' boss Walter Smith will again be without striker Kenny Miller but is boosted by the return of Sasa Papac. If the Bosnian makes the starting 11 Steven Whittaker will either be pushed forward into midfield or will drop to the subs bench. Continuity is something any football fan likes to see in their team but as a big Rangers fan I have one or two concerns if Rangers remain unchanged from last week.

Lee McCulloch has filled in well for injured centre-back Bougherra in two home matches recently. He is new to this role and as much as Rangers have got away with his inexperience so far he lacks the pace of the Algerian and away from home he will be under so much more pressure than at Ibrox. It has to be said though that Aberdeen looked to expose the defence last weekend but the ever present Weir and company coped very well.

Rangers were weak in the wide areas of midfield last week but again they got away with it. Charlie Adam has probably the most erratic left foot in Scottish Football and despite scoring many important goals for the side he is a figure of frustration for the Ibrox support and most, if not all, have conceded he just isn't Rangers class.

Up front it looks like Boyd and Darcheville again. Both scored against Aberdeen last week but they showed little in terms of a cohesive strike partnership. The Scot is scoring freely however with eight in the last seven league games and The Frenchman quashed rumours of a winter move to Marseille recently hinting he has unfinished business at Ibrox.

Hosts Hearts have sneaked quietly into 3rd place in the table almost unnoticed but the big question on Saturday is where do their goals come from? Despite five wins and one draw from their eight home ties this season they have only found the net 11 times. Earlier in the week it was feared coach Csaba Laszlo would be without strike duo Jamie Mole and Mike Tullberg but only the Dane has been ruled out at this stage and the attacking prospects could be boosted further by a return of the effective Laryea Kingston in midfield.

Rangers do look short at [1.71] in the match odds but with the match live on Setanta this could be one for the in-play traders who might want to see how Rangers set-up or how they start the game. For example; if the match remains goalless after 30 minutes or so Rangers could be available at around [2]. Hearts on the other hand look long at [6] and this could well be worth backing with a view to trade if Rangers line-up similar to last weekend.