Christmas Eve Football Tips: Swede dreams at Celtic Park

• Dirty visitors set for cards

• Hallberg a strong booking candidate

• Try Bet Builder at just north of 7/2

Celtic v St Johnstone

There's more Scottish Premiership action on Christmas Eve with runaway leaders Celtic looking to extend their advantage at the top.

They've beaten St Johnstone seven times in a row, while at Parkhead they've won seven of the last eight against the Super J's with all the victories coming without conceding.

A home win 'to nil' is a short price (around 3/5) though, especially when you consider the Perth outfit's strong form which sees them head into this one unbeaten in six.

Celtic, meanwhile, have stayed on the winning trail but each of their last four wins has been by a single goal. They've not been smashing sides to pieces so there's hope this could be competitive - the visitors are 8/13 with a three-goal start.

However, rather than head down that road, hope of a close-fought game gives rise to cards.

St Johnstone are bottom of the Premiership's fair-play table, while Celtic's opponents have been shown more cards than against any other side.

That combination means I'm happy to put the visitors down for over 2.5 cards, something they've landed in four of their last six at Celtic Park with tallies of 0-6-5-0-5-3.

The referee, Kevin Clancy, was the top-carding official in the top flight last season - the only one to show more than five yellows per game on average.

He's slowed a little on that front this season, although he still averages a healthy 4.22, while his four red cards in nine games help show that he's still a man who is prepared to go to his pocket a lot.

Thinking along the same lines, I also like St Johnstone midfielder Melker Hallberg to be shown a card at 13/5.

The Swede has been carded in six of 16 league games this season (seven cards in total) and he'll have plenty of work to do in this match with Celtic set to dominate the ball.

The one slight worry is whether he returns to the starting XI - Hallberg was suspended for Saturday's 2-1 win at Ross County, although he had started every game prior.

The Bet Builder double pays just north of 7/2 which hopefully can give us all a happy Christmas!

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