Rangers vs Celtic tips: Tired hosts to lose in Old Firm derby at Ibrox
- George Dempsey
- 1 September 2023
Rangers and Celtic will renew rivalries at Ibrox on Sunday lunchtime with both sides of the Old Firm looking to put disappointing results behind them.
Date, KO time and TV coverage
Scottish Premiership, Sunday, September 3, Kick-off 12pm, live on Sky Sports
Predicted score
Suggested bets
Over 2.5 goals and both teams to score
Rangers vs Celtic team news
Rangers will be without the services of Ridvan Yilmaz (strain) and Steven Davis (ACL) on Sunday, although the former could return.
Rabbie Matondo and Kemar Roofe have impressed in attack recently but Cyriel Dessers and Danilo are also an option.
Celtic’s lengthy injury list includes Stephen Welsh (ankle), Maik Nawrocki (hamstring), Reo Hatate (calf), Cameron Carter-Vickers (hamstring), Hyeon-gyu Oh (calf), Yuki Kobayashi and Marco Tilio.
Liel Abada, Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizan Maeda are expected to continue to attack with Matt O’Riley, subject to a deadline day approach from Leeds, potentially behind them.
Rangers vs Celtic verdict
You can’t win the title in the fourth game of the season, but defeat in this particular fixture could certainly contribute to losing it.
Michael Beale’s side were dumped out of the Champions League by PSV on Wednesday as they were thumped 5-1 at the Philips Stadion on Eindhoven.
Celtic have had the week off to work on their finishing after a 0-0 draw at home to St Johnstone was preceded by a 1-0 loss away to Kilmarnock in the League Cup.
It was the first time they’ve failed to score in back-to-back games since losing 2-0 to Bodo/Glimt days before drawing 0-0 away to Kilmarnock in February 2022.
Both sides are wounded and below their usual standards in the early stages of the season, but the visitors are surely set to benefit from the additional rest.
It’s worth noting that Celtic have won three of their last five trips to Ibrox and they’ll be keen to avenge the 3-0 defeat suffered here in May.
Given that the visitors haven’t failed to score in three consecutive matches for more than 16 years, it seems a certainty they’ll find the back of the net in this match.
The momentum of the atmosphere can only carry you so far and the visitors are going to be the fresher side of the day, which could help them start fast and finish strong.
Celtic produced a combined xG in excess of three goals during their previous two matches and deserved to win both, so we’re expecting things to even themselves out here.
