The first Old Firm showdown of the season takes place this weekend, with arch-rivals Rangers and Celtic locking horns at Ibrox on Sunday afternoon.
Rangers endured a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League playoffs on Wednesday, while the Bhoys were held to a goalless draw by St Johnstone last time out.
Match preview
© Reuters
The Gers and PSV Eindhoven headed into the second leg of their Champions League playoff with the tie finely poised at 2-2, but the Dutch side ended up notching a 7-3 aggregate victory after putting five past Michael Beale's men on Wednesday.
Isamel Saibari scored twice to make it 4-2 on aggregate before James Tavernier pulled a goal back midway through the second half, but PSV ran riot in the latter stages of the match, with Connor Goldson's comical own goal capping a miserable night for the Scottish outfit.
To make matters worse for Rangers, they already find themselves a point behind Celtic in the Scottish Premiership table after suffering a shock 1-0 defeat to Kilmarnock on the opening weekend, despite racking up 18 shots and 69% possession at Rugby Park.
However, the Gers bounced straight back with a 4-0 victory over Livingston before defeating Ross County 2-0, meaning that Beale's side have scored six goals in their previous two league encounters while keeping a couple of clean sheets for good measure.
It goes without saying that Rangers will be disappointed to have missed out on a place in the Champions League, but they can make amends for Wednesday's failure by claiming the Glasgow bragging rights at the expense of their bitter rivals this weekend.
© Reuters
On top of that, Rangers can take confidence from the fact that Celtic have also dropped points in the Premiership this season, as the Hoops played out a goalless stalemate with St Johnstone last weekend.
Despite registering 19 shots while enjoying the lion's share of possession on home soil, Brendan Rodgers's boys were unable to make the most of their dominance against the Saints, who managed just two attempts on target throughout the contest.
Celtic kicked off their Premiership campaign with a 4-2 triumph over Ross County, thanks largely to a double from David Turnbull, and the reigning champions followed up that victory with a 3-1 win against Aberdeen, with Kyogo Furuhashi scoring for the second game running.
Since then, however, the Bhoys have recorded one draw and one loss, with a shock 1-0 defeat to Kilmarnock in the second round of the Scottish League Cup preceding last weekend's stalemate with St Johnstone.
Under the guidance of Ange Postecoglou, Celtic won 32 of their 38 league games en route to securing a memorable treble last season, but Celtic have already dropped points and suffered League Cup elimination since Rodgers's return.
- L
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- D
- W
- L
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- L
- D
Team News
© Reuters
Rangers are still without long-term injury absentee Steven Davis, whose last appearance came back in December 2022, while Kieran Dowell and Ridvan Yilmaz are also sidelined through injury.
Michael Beale will likely continue with a 4-3-1-2 formation this weekend, with the midfield trio of Jose Cifuentes, John Lundstram and Nicolas Raskin operating in front of the back four.
Todd Cantwell is expected to offer attacking support to Rabbi Matondo and Cyriel Dessers, who has chalked up two goals and two assists in his last seven appearances.
On the flip side, Celtic have Cameron Carter-Vickers, James McCarthy and Maik Nawrocki sidelined due to muscle issues, meaning that Brendan Rodgers has limited defensive options.
With Reo Hatate, Yuki Kobayashi, Oh Hyeon-gyu, Marco Tilio and Stephen Welsh also out injured, Rodgers cannot afford to make too many changes to the XI that started last weekend's surprise draw with St Johnstone.
Daizen Maeda, Kyogo Furuhashi and Yang Hyun-jun will continue to occupy the forward line in a 4-3-3 formation, while Matt O'Riley, Callum McGregor and David Turnbull are expected to operate in midfield.
Rangers possible starting lineup:
Butland; Tavernier, Goldson, Souttar, Barisic; Cifuentes, Lundstrum, Raskin; Cantwell; Matondo, Dessers
Celtic possible starting lineup:
Hart; Johnston, Lagerkielke, Scales, Taylor; O'Reily, McGregor, Turnbull; Maeda, Furuhashi, Yang
We say: Rangers 2-2 Celtic
Rangers and Celtic invariably produce fireworks when they do battle - and Sunday's showdown looks destined to be another eventful encounter.
Given that both sides have already dropped points this season, we can see the Old Firm foes serving up an entertaining draw at Ibrox.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Ben Morris
