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It’s one of football’s great rivalries: Celtic vs Rangers. We’re treated to our second Old Firm Derby of the season from Celtic Park this morning at 6:45am AEDT. Join us for live scores and a blog of all the action as it unfolds.
The winner will claim outright first on Scottish Premier League table. Rangers triumphed in the first meeting between the two sides earlier in the year, with a 4-2 win at Ibrox back in September.
Football’s great derbies include Real Madrid vs Barcelona, Boca Juniors vs River Plate, AC Milan vs Inter Milan, perhaps even one day Melbourne Heart vs Melbourne Victory.
But Celtic vs Rangers is equally if not more most fierce for the two biggest clubs in Scottish football, with religious history and a hugely cherished rivalry.
Both sides are without European distractions, with the Hoops unlucky to not claim all three points against Udinese and qualify for the knockout rounds of the Europa League, and Rangers crashing out first in Champions League qualifying and then Europa League, failing to make the group stage of any competition after being toppled by Malmo and Maribor, respectively.
Rangers are coming off a Christmas Eve defeat at St. Mirren and have now lost two of their last three away matches – Celtic are clearly the form team in this one, having claimed 28 of the last 30 possible points, winning the last eight games in the process.
In addition, they’ve not lost at home since August when they were upset by St. Johnstone in their only home defeat of the year so far.
But form means nothing in a heated rivalry such as this, and with the gap at the top of league closed to a solitary point (Rangers were ahead by as many as 10 earlier in the season) the blue side of Glasgow will be determined to take top spot on the table into the new year.
Lee McCulloch will be absent for the visitors having picked up a suspension for his red card in St. Mirren loss, and of course are still missing star striker Steven Naismith who is out for the season.
The home side have very little news on the absentee front, young winger James Forrest is the only doubtful inclusion, claiming hamstring stiffness in last weekend’s victory over Kilmarnock.
As we saw from the last time these two played, scoring is not a problem. Celtic are averaging two goals a game throughout the league season, with Rangers not far behind with 1.85.
The Bhoys will look to Englishman Gary Hooper, their leading scorer and most impressive player. The prolific Naismith will of course not feature for Rangers and they will need a performance from Nikita Jelavic or Kyle Lafferty if they hope to put a dampener on this Celtic winning streak.
These clashes are never without controversy, and rarely without a few goals. A month ago when the gap was ten points, this match seemed more about pride than anything. Now with a red hot Celtic just a point behind their hated neighbours, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Join us just before 6:45am AEDT for all the team news and line-ups before minute by minute commentary of what should be another cracking Old Firm derby.
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