Open Goal’s ‘Right on the Coupon’ team of Frank McAvennie and Paul Slane gave their opinion with Si Ferry and Derek Ferguson on tomorrow’s blockbuster fixture between Celtic and Rangers at Celtic Park.
Neil Lennon’s side are 5 points ahead of the Ibrox outfit, albeit they have one game in hand. Fresh after selling out the SSE Hydro, they discussed who could be the match winner, the lack of fans and how they saw the game going.
The boys were all in agreement that Celtic will be better but Rangers will be up for the game ensuring that it could be an end to end occasion as the New Year fixture could set an early indicator of who might be lifting the title in May.
Before discussing tomorrow’s game, they discussed whether the last meeting in the Betfred Cup would have any effect on the result tomorrow. McAvennie and Ferguson agreed that Celtic didn’t turn up last time and because of that,
“The result was even better because Celtic were so bad – Celtic don’t normally play as bad as that.
Paul Slane agreed suggesting that the game was a must win for Steven Gerrard and his side as losing three Glasgow Derby matches in a row could be damaging to the club’s quest to stop Celtic’s domination.
“Celtic will never play as bad as that, that’s a fact. Rangers have lost two of the games and they can’t lose three, so its massive. It’s a must win for Rangers.”
McAvennie said that the result is massive but it is staying consistent that is important over the course of the season as he highlighted that after the first Glasgow Derby of the season, Celtic drew and lost their next two away games.
“Celtic win at Ibrox and then lose 5 out of 6 points to let them back in.”
Ex-Rangers midfielder Derek Ferguson was confident that Rangers would take heart from the defeat in the League Cup and be able to take belief that they could replicate that performance in the match at Celtic Park.
“It’ll be open, Rangers will go there confident with the last performance, they’ve got nothing to fear. Celtic will be better.”
Meanwhile, Frank McAvennie suggested that Celtic could be a different outfit altogether when they face Rangers as the last few times, they have been playing with a makeshift starting XI. We can cast our minds back to Ibrox when we had Nir Bitton at centre back. Whilst in the meeting earlier this month, Jonny Hayes was at left back whilst Lewis Morgan lead the line.
“It’ll be a change if Celtic get their first team out. If everyone is fit, I can’t see Rangers winning.”
The Celtic pair of Macca and Slane finished off by giving their predictions on first goal scorer as well as the final score that they’d have on their coupon.
Paul Slane – Frimpong FGS, Celtic to win 2-0
Frank McAvennie – Edouard FGS, Celtic to win 2-0
