Old Firm Derby preview: An Old Firm debut to remember for Van Bronckhorst?

Wednesday evening sees Scotland’s two biggest sides go head-to-head as Celtic host Rangers in yet another Old Firm Derby.

Rangers currently sit just ahead of Celtic in the table but can they increase their lead at the top or could Celtic leapfrog their rivals and into top spot instead?

Celtic favourites despite recent Old Firm record

Celtic are winless in six league meetings with rivals Rangers having drawn once and lost five of these meetings. This run of six games without a victory means that this is Celtic’s longest winless run in league Old Firm derbies since March 2000. Their most recent defeat came in August where they fell to a 1-0 defeat at Ibrox. If you feel Celtic will be able to put an end to the current run and get all three points, they are priced as 11/10 favourites to do so.

A stat that will make Celtic fans a little more enthusiastic is that they are unbeaten in their last 51 league matches played in midweek and they have won their last 13 midweek games played at Celtic Park.

Celtic’s main man this season has been Jota who has scored eight and assisted seven goals so far and he will be looking to add to his impressive tally on Wednesday evening. Jota is currently second favourite to score at anytime for Celtic at 19/10, behind only Georgios Giakoumakis who is priced at 7/4.

Rangers look to extend Premiership lead

Rangers are currently on top of the table and they will be looking to extend their lead on Wednesday evening. Rangers haven’t won a league match at Celtic Park as defending champions since October 2010 when they were under the management of club legend Walter Smith, but they are priced at 5/2 to come away with all three points this time round. None of the last four Rangers bosses to face Celtic in the league won their first such match in charge and the last manager was Ally McCoist back in 2011. Could Giovanni van Bronckhorst end the run?

Since the start of the 2020/21 season, Rangers have won 10 of their last 12 games played on a Wednesday so both teams head into this fixture with impressive midweek form.

An interesting stat heading into this Old Firm Derby is Rangers’ last four goals scored at Celtic Park have come from set-pieces and seven of their last 10 goals scored against Celtic have also come from set-pieces. It could be worth backing a Rangers defender to get on the scoresheet, and frequent free-kick and penalty taker, James Tavernier, could be the man to grab the goal at a price of 9/2 to score anytime.

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