Scottish Football / John Girvan / 30 August 2008 /

One of the biggest rivalries in world football takes place this weekend as Rangers and Celtic lock horns in the Old Firm. Our man in Scotland, John Girvan, tells us all we need to know about the match.

To anyone who knows anything about world football, The Old Firm Derby needs very little introduction. Arguably one of the biggest games in world football is live on Setanta Sports 1 this Sunday lunch-time and there are plenty of betting angles in this fiercely contested encounter.

Rangers blew the chance to go into this one two points clear of their bitter rivals, managing only a 1-1 draw at Pittodrie last Saturday. The match ended in controversial circumstances when a perfectly legitimate winner for Rangers was flagged offside. With only the dying seconds of injury time remaining the goal would have given Rangers all three points and had every right to leave the Granite City feeling slightly aggrieved. It could be argued however that for all their dominance in the first half they struggled slightly after the interval and in truth never quite recovered from the blow of Aberdeen's equaliser on the stroke of half time.

The result was a shot in the arm for Celtic who went on to peg level with Rangers in the championship with a convincing 3-0 home win over Falkirk. There was a hint of handball where the Steven McManus opener was concerned but given the home sides supremacy any decision that denied the captain his goal would probably have been in vain of a Celtic victory. Shaun Maloney made his 2nd debut from the club last week and the man re-signed from Aston Villa is likely to feature against Rangers in Green and White once again.

A certain starter is likely to be Georgios Samaras after his double polished off Falkirk last weekend. He had been waiting patiently on the bench whilst McDonald and Hessellink misfired but he got his chance from the start last week and grabbed it with both hands.

He chipped in with a good return of goals during his loan spell from Manchester City last season and it looks as though he is set to carry that on as a permanent signing. Both first choice strikers face late fitness test ahead of Sunday and The Greek may well be joined in attack by the aforementioned Maloney. Elsewhere for Celtic, new signing Glenn Loovens has an outside chance of making his Old Firm debut but manager Gordon Strachan is likely to go with a familiar central defensive pairing of Caldwell and McManus.

The Rangers side is much less settled and that makes it difficult to know what to expect from them, particularly with the match falling just 4 games into the domestic schedule. Madjid Bougherra is shaping up to be a decent enough replacement for Carlos Cuellar but it will worry Walter Smith that he is one of possibly four in the Rangers starting 11 who will be making their Old Firm debuts.

Captain Barry Ferguson is undergoing a lengthy injury lay off and his vast experience in these battles will be sorely missed. It's also a massive game for a certain Kenny Miller. The man who went from Blue to Green, then back again needs a goal badly before the pressure starts mounting. Players often do well against their former clubs and he himself scored against Rangers two years ago in his spell at Parkhead.

Backing a home win any time these two sides play each other has been a shrewd piece of business in recent times. A home win is always an odds against chance at [2.0] or greater, Celtic are [2.1] here, and all four of last seasons games resulted in home wins. Furthermore in the last 3 seasons there have been 8 home wins in the 12 league encounters. The rare away win is priced up at [4.2] with the draw out at [3.35].

It's still only August and there's not much to go on in the way of form but home advantage will play into Celtic's hands here. So too will the fact that they have a much more settled side in comparison to Rangers and the loss of Ferguson may prove crucial. It's not conclusive but backing Celtic -0, -0.5 at [1.73] in the Asian Handicap might be the safest way of risking some of your betting bank this weekend. Both sides haven't really had their shooting boots on so far either and we could be in for a low scoring encounter so Under 2.5 goals could be worth backing at [1.77]

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