Celtic had their perfect start to the season stopped by Aberdeen last weekend in a captivating 2-2 draw at Celtic Park. They then went on to draw with Atalanta out in Italy in midweek, which puts them in 20th place in the Champions League, currently ahead of Bayern Munich, AC Milan and Atletico Madrid.
Motherwell are doing quite well at the moment. They are currently sat in fifth in the Scottish Premiership and have a four point gap between them and the team below them. The problem that they have faced for a lot of this season is that they don’t score too many goals. There are just four teams in the league who have netted fewer times than them.
Celtic don’t seem to have any problems in the league at the moment except for a certain Aberdeen side, who managed to earn a draw last weekend with the reigning champions. Two of their three goals conceded so far this season came against Aberdeen, which just demonstrates the gulf in class between Celtic and the majority of Scottish teams.
Motherwell Predicted Lineup - Aston Oxborough; Dan Casey, Liam Gordon, Kofi Balmer; Ewan Wilson, Andy Halliday, Davor Zdravkovski, Lennon Miller, Stephan O’Donnell; Apostolos Stamatelopoulos, Zach Robinson
Motherwell don’t have any new injury concerns, however they do have quite a few players who have been on the sidelines for some time. Last time out, they lost at home to Dundee United, so manager Stuart Kettlewell may make some changes.
One player he won’t take out is 18-year-old midfielder Lennon Miller, who has managed to score twice and assist three times in the league so far. Given Motherwell’s relative struggle in front of goal, that is quite impressive.
Celtic Predicted Lineup - Kasper Schmeichel; Alex Valle, Liam Scales, Auston Trusty, Alistair Johnston; Reo Hatate, Callum McGregor, Arne Engels; Daizen Maeda, Kyogo Furuhashi, Nicolas-Gerrit Kuhn
In complete contrast with Motherwell, Celtic can’t stop scoring in the league at the minute. Last time out they scored twice in the first half against Aberdeen before the visitors managed to get level. That was the first time that they had conceded twice in the league since the end of last season when they beat St. Mirren 3-2.
Kyogo Furuhashi is definitely their player to watch at the moment. After a slow opening few games of the season, he has now been directly involved in six goals in the last five league games, scoring four and assisting two.
You would expect that a side like Celtic has dominated Motherwell over recent years, and while Motherwell haven’t won in the last 31 attempts, they have managed two draws in the last five attempts. Celtic also haven’t kept a clean sheet against Motherwell since 2022, however they have never had a defence as strong as it is this season.
25th Feb 2024 - Motherwell 1-3 Celtic - Scottish Premiership
25th Nov 2023 - Celtic 1-1 Motherwell - Scottish Premiership
30th Sep 2023 - Motherwell 1-2 Celtic - Scottish Premiership
22nd Apr 2023 - Celtic 1-1 Motherwell - Scottish Premiership
9th Nov 2022 - Motherwell 1-2 Celtic - Scottish Premiership
Motherwell don’t have a terrible scoring record against Celtic, however with their poor form in front of goal, and Celtic’s near perfect defensive record this season, I think it will be more difficult than it normally is for them.
Celtic may have some tired legs from playing out in Italy this week, but they have the much better side than Motherwell so even some changes to their starting XI shouldn’t affect them too much.
With all of this in mind, our team of professional experts have decided that the best tip for this game is for Celtic to Win to Nil. Odds of 7/5 on Parimatch means that a £10 bet could see a potential return of £24.
(odds subject to change)
Motherwell 0-2 Celtic
There is plenty of EFL action this weekend, including Bromley vs Barrow and Charlton vs Wrexham.
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