Scottish FA Cup final tips: Treble-chasing Celtic too strong for Inverness
- George Dempsey
- 2 June 2023
Premier League Celtic and Championship side Inverness Caledonian Thistle will contest the 150th Scottish Cup Final at Hampden Park on Saturday evening.
Date, KO time and TV coverage
Scottish Cup final, Saturday June 3, Kick-off 5:30pm, live on BBC One Scotland
Predicted score
Celtic 4-0 Inverness CT
Suggested bets
Celtic to score in both halves
Celtic -2 Asian handicap
Key stats
If Celtic beat Inverness on Saturday, the Hoops will secure a domestic treble for the fifth time in seven seasons.
Queens Park are the only Championship side to have lifted the Scottish Cup, beating Celtic in a replay of the 1983 final.
Celtic have won 19 of their 22 meetings with Caley Thistle, outscoring them 13-0 in their last three meetings.
Inverness have already beaten two Scottish Premier League sides this side, toppling Livingston 3-0 and Kilmarnock 2-1. They also beat Livingston 2-1 in the League Cup.
Celtic vs Inverness CT team news
Top scorer Kyogo Furuhashi is a slight doubt after picking up an injury against Aberdeen but Celtic will be hoping he recovers in time. Cameron Carter-Vickers (knee) is unavailable.
Inverness will be without Shane Sutherland (knee) and Tom Walsh (knee) due to injury, but they'll hope to welcome back Max Ram (ankle) and Roddy MacGregor (ankle).
Celtic vs Inverness CT verdict
The first-ever Scottish FA Cup final was played in front of a crowd of 2,500 people, 13 years before Celtic were founded.
Fast forward 63 years and the Bhoys were winning their 15th Scottish Cup in front of 147,365 people.
Celtic have won six of the last 10 Scottish Cup finals with their opponents, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, claiming their first-ever Scottish Cup against Falkirk in 2014.
These sides haven't met since Inverness were relegated on the final day of the 2016/17 SPL season, but Celtic's victories that season were emphatic.
After drawing 2-2 early in the season, Celtic later recorded a 3-0 win, a 4-0 win and a 6-0 win, outsourcing their weekend opponents 13-0 across three fixtures.
Overall, Ange Postecoglou's side have won 19 of their 22 meetings with Inverness and given the gap between the sides, it seems highly probable they'll record a 20th victory here.
Inverness will need to pick themselves up from a disappointing end to the season. They narrowly missed out on a top-four finish and a place in the play-offs after failing to win their last two matches.
They'll hope to draw on the experience gained in beating Kilmarnock and Livingston in cup competition this season, but it's fair to say Celtic are a different animal.
Big Ange's side have found the net 14 times in four Scottish Cup matches this year and looked back to their best in a 5-0 win over Aberdeen at the weekend.
While every neutral will be hoping for a fairytale ending at Hampden Park, we think it's nailed on Celtic cruise to victory and have little trouble in breaking Caley down.
Back them to win big and triumph in both halves.
