The Scottish Premiership is in focus on Wednesday night, and we are off to Rugby Park as Kilmarnock play host to Celtic.
Killie Welcome Hoops
Although this season’s Scottish Premiership title race could go down to the final mile, it could also be wrapped up before Wednesday’s meeting in Ayrshire.
Could Be Champions
As of Tuesday morning’s time of writing, Celtic are tantalisingly close to being crowned Scottish Premiership champions once again. Six points clear of their nearest rivals Rangers with two fixture rounds left to play and a better goal difference to go with it.
A scenario that means if Rangers failed to get the better of Dundee on Tuesday night, then the champagne corks will be popped slightly earlier than expected at Celtic Park. Should Philippe Clement’s men win as expected, then it will ask a further question of the Hoops.
Not the biggest question as Brendan Rodgers’ men need just a single point from their last two matches to be absolutely sure of keeping hold of their Premiership crown – even two narrow enough defeats could see them just stumble over the line.
While they reason they need just a single point to change their status to champions is because they managed to earn all three at the weekend when it mattered most. The latest iteration of the Old Firm was certainly the most important of the season, it was also a certain Celtic who won.
As usual, tempers flared at Celtic Park but for a game of such magnitude being added to such an ongoing heated rivalry, you would be surprised if the game’s temperature was not operating as its usual boiling point.
A 2-1 win for Celtic in front of a full crowd of home support and with much being made of away ticket allocations over the past few seasons, the lack of away support would have undoubtedly helped the hosts earn their allocation of maximum points.
Now though, Brendan Rodgers and his players are on the road for their next Scottish Premiership skirmish. Wednesday sees them go up against a Kilmarnock side that have already secured fourth in the table and a return to European football next season.
With no further upward mobility for Derek McInnes’ men on offer and no risk of sliding further down the table, the pressure will certainly be off the shoulders of Killie before the visit of either the champions in awaiting or the champions themselves.
Not to forget either, that when the pressure was on Kilmarnock earlier in the season, they managed to get the better of Celtic at Rugby Park. A sodden Ayrshire in the runup to Christmas saw Killie earn a 2-1 win and it shows they are more than capable of doing the same in midweek.
But now it is time for the first of my two tips and based on the assumption that Celtic need a point, I am going to opt for precisely that. Kilmarnock have gotten the better of their upcoming opponents and Rangers on home soil this season, but the stalemate at odds of 19/4 is worth extra attention.
In addition to this, I am going to opt for a correct score bet and with both teams scoring in this stalemate, I think a goal at each end will be enough to crown Brendan Rodgers’ men as champions and at odds of 10/1, that is good enough for me.
