Former Celtic striker Charlie Nicholas reckons that his old club will get the better of theRangers in a five-goal thriller at Celtic Park on Saturday afternoon. Writing in his weekly column in Scottish Daily Express the former Hoops goalscorer reckons that we are in for an exciting Glasgow Derby with both sides looking for the points ahead of the start of their Champions League Group stage campaigns in mid-week.
Celtic go into the match full of confidence after Sunday’s 9-0 will at Tannadice, which took Ange Postecoglou’s exhilarating side two points clear at the top of the league looking down on theRangers…
“Celtic v (the)Rangers is always box office but this Saturday’s lunchtime derby is shaping up to be something else. It’ll not finish 0-0, put it that way. Ange Postecoglou’s side doesn’t know any other way to play than on the front foot,” Nicholas reckons.
“But there’s still a vulnerability to their defence that they get away with because the rest of the league are scared of them. (the)Rangers won’t be, though. Giovanni van Bronckhorst has proven himself to be a master of adapting his team to situations.
“They might sit in for the first 15-20 minutes but they won’t be afraid to have a go after that. (the)Rangers have physicality in midfield, quality in wide areas and Antonio Colak has started the season really well. Their full-backs are vulnerable to pace but if they get forward and pin Celtic back they are capable of doing damage.
“However, I think Celtic will have too much upfront with the likes of Kyogo Furuhashi, Jota and Liel Abada. This could go either way but I’m edging towards a 3-2 win for Celtic.”
Charlie Nicholas has been a long-term critic of all things Celtic, but since the arrival of Ange Postecoglou that has slowly changed and he is now fully on board with Ange-ball. Maybe he will be right on the score prediction front, but most Celtic fans will be hoping for a result like the one achieved on 2 February when we simply blew them away. What a night that was!
