Rangers V Celtic Preview

Rangers vs. Celtic

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Ibrox Stadium

Kickoff: 12:30

Rangers

The Rangers football club beat Hearts 2-0 in their last match, which was the Rangers' fifth straight win.

Winning their last five matches has given the Rangers the full fifteen points from these fixtures and sees them in second place, trailing opponents Celtic by only a single point, and 22 points clear of third—placed Hearts.

Sasa Papac may be fit for Rangers, whilst Madjid Bougherra returns from suspension. Kirk Broadfoot, however, is still a doubt.

Celtic

The Celtic football club beat Aberdeen 3-1 in their last league match, their second straight win.

In their last five matches, Celtic have won four and drawn one, earning thirteen points from the fifteen on offer. As mentioned, Celtic are currently leading the league, one point clear of Rangers.

Celtic will be without captain Stephen McManus with a knee injury as well as midfielder Scott Brown due to suspension. Lastly, Barry Robson may feature for Celtic after returning to training.

Prediction

The two sides drew 0-0 earlier this season at Celtic Park, whilst last season's Rangers versus Celtic fixture saw Celtic victorious by a 1-0 margin.

With only a point separating the two sides with four games left, this match is undoubtedly the most important remaining fixture of both sides' campaign, and could well decide the winner of this season's Scottish Premier League.

For Celtic, it has been Scott McDonald and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink who have been the in-form players, with the former scoring twice in Celtic's last two games (and leading the team's score sheet with nineteen goals all season), and the latter contributing four in Celtic's last five matches.

For Rangers, it is Andrius Velicka who has found his form recently, with the Lithuanian finding the back of the net three times in Rangers' last three matches. However, the attention of Rangers fans will go towards their leading scorer Kris Boyd, who has put the ball in the back of the opponent's net four times in Rangers' last five.

However, the question remains as to whether Boyd can overcome his "Celtic Jinx", with the former Scotland centre-forward scoring only once in his eighteen career appearances against Celtic.

Apart from last season's defeat, Rangers have had the better of Celtic at Ibrox in recent years, winning the other three of their last four league meetings there. As such, Rangers will go into this crucial Old Firm Derby as slight favourites to win, but we are surely set to witness an extremely tight and action-packed encounter with the two teams playing for everything in this battle of Scotland's best.

For the complete preview with the best betting odds, go to the Rangers vs Celtic odds and preview page now!

Then read our other weekend previews including West Ham vs Liverpool, Man Utd vs Man City, and Arsenal vs Chelsea, all at the Sports Betting Review website!