After the historic debut appearance in the UEFA Women’s Champions League against Dutch Champions FC Twente on Tuesday night, Celtic FC Women return to SWPL1 duties on Sunday with a difficult away match against Hearts at Oriam Performance Centre in Edinburgh…
Ahead of that there’s a crucial match this afternoon at 3pm in the SWPL1 for the other top of the table match between theRangers and Glasgow City at Ibrox, which is actually live on Sky Sports, if you want to keep an eye on that.
The Ghirls making the UEFA Women’s Champions League group stages and competing as one of the top 16 sides in European football will have whetted appetites for a return next season and the same goes for theRangers, Glasgow City and even Hearts players who will be desperate to experience that for themselves next season.
The first step to achieving that is winning the SWPL1, so this weekend’s matches are absolutely huge for the four main title hopefuls. Hearts are attempting to turn three into four this season and appear to have adopted Celtic’s shape and playing style to great effect. Let’s have a look at how the table looks going into this weekend’s crucial fixtures…
Celtic have a game in hand against Queen’s Park so unless there’s a huge upset in that one that’s three points that should be added to the Champions’ total, fingers crossed and all that. Celtic have drawn two matches and won six, dropping points against Hibs and theRangers.
Glasgow City have won eight from nine games, crucially losing just the once to Celtic. Hearts have lost twice to Glasgow City and theRangers while theRangers have only dropped points in the Glasgow Derby 2-2 draw at home to Celtic a week past last Thursday. Celtic came back from a 2-0 deficit after two ‘honest mistakes’ but perhaps should have actually won the match with Irish striker Noonan missing a golden opportunity in the closing seconds to win the match for Celtic. The 2-2 draw was certainly well merited.
Key Points for SWPL’s table topping weekend
The key points to note ahead of today’s game at Ibrox kicking off at 3pm are as follows:
- Hearts have been perfect against the rest but have so far come up short against the top sides so far. Celtic must make sure that this doesn’t change tomorrow.
- The game at Ibrox this afternoon between theRangers and Glasgow City will obviously see points dropped. Assuming Celtic can get the three points against Hearts (and that won’t be easy) then a draw at Ibrox will see Celtic move to three points behind theRangers with a game in hand which should be winnable.
- Wins for theRangers and Celtic his weekend will obviously be bad news for Glasgow City as they’d fall four points behind theRangers and just one point ahead of the Champions Celtic who would still have that game in hand.
- However should Celtic and Glasgow City both get away wins then City will go top two points ahead of theRangers and remain four points ahead of Celtic having played a game more than Elena Sadiku’s side.
- A draw at Ibrox and a Hearts win over Celtic would be the ideal result for Eva Olid’s side but a real blow for Celtic FC Women.
So it’s going to be a fascinating and highly significant weekend in the SWPL1.
Celtic Team News
Elena Sadiku describes her aggressive squad rotation policy this season as being vital due to the ongoing involvement in Champions League football after making it through the qualifying rounds into the group stages. If you look at the players on the bench on Tuesday night in the 2-0 defeat to FC Twente, then you’re likely to see many of these players starting against Hearts.
That means we could see the likes of Smith, the Carstens twins, Cavanagh, Ashworth-Clifford, Luana and McAneny getting a start. Celtic were missing Amy Gallacher (flu) and Kit Loferski (on going injury concern) and both are doubtful for tomorrow.
Here’s a reminder of the Celtic team against FC Twente in the Champions League on Tuesday night at New Douglas Park in Hamilton.
Predicted Celtic Team
Daugherty; Hayes, Clark, Bruna; Smith, Ashworth-Clifford, Cavanagh, Signe Carstens; McAneny, Agnew, Mathilde Carstens.
Celtic Manager’s View
“The squad is going to be so important this season. We have a good idea of how to manage the challenge ahead,” Elena Sadiku told Celtic TV yesterday afternoon. Watch Elena’s previewing tomorrow’s match away to Hearts below…
Kick-off Times
Saturday 12 October – theRangers v Glasgow City, Ibrox Stadium, kick-off 3pm
Sunday 12 October – Hearts v Celtic, Oriam Performance Centre in Edinburgh, kick-off 4.10pm
Match Officials
Hearts v Celtic will see Ryan Kennedy with the whistle, assisted by Vikki Allan and Hannah McLean. No VAR in the SWPL, although it would have been very interesting to see what would have happened in Celtic’s 2-2 draw with theRangers where they seemed to score an opener with a player yards offside then got a penalty for a handball offence that looked clearly outside the box. Elena Sadiku got a yellow card for telling the referee that he ‘gave them two goals’.
Ticket Information
Hearts v Celtic tickets can be purchased HERE. General Admission is £8.48 (inc booking fee), with Under 16s and over 65s paying £3.18.
Where to Watch
Hearts v Celtic FC Women kicks-off at 4.10pm and is live on BBC ALBA.
Score Prediction
No Jessica this week, so I’m on my own with this one. I’ll go for an important 2-0 victory for Celtic.
COYGIG
By the way – Arsenal v Chelsea live on BBC One
Celtic’s Champions League opponents Chelsea are playing Arsenal at the Emirates with a crowd of 45,000 in attendance. It is live on BBC One at the moment and Chelsea are winning 2-0 with 16 mins in the clock at the time of writing. Remember that this Arsenal team beat theRangers 6-0 in the qualifiers but it’s Chelsea who are the Champions and they beat Real Madrid on Tuesday night (3-2).
That’s who Celtic are going to play in the Champions League so a wee chance to do so amateur scouting.
