Celtic vs Kilmarnock Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Celtic finally sealed the Scottish Premiership title last weekend when an emphatic 5-0 thrashing of Hearts away from home, and that seems to have been the catalyst for some of the players to take their foot off the pedal, although I’m sure the celebrations that followed Sunday’s win over Hearts combined with the midweek game had something to do with their lack of performance.

They returned to Celtic Park as champions of Scotland once again to host Partick Thistle, but they couldn’t manage to pick up three points against them and ended up dropping points for just the third time this season.

With seven games left they are only 13 points off reaching the incredible 100 point mark for the season, so I’m sure Brendan Rodgers will have given them a good going over in the dressing room and I would expect them to come out back to their best on Saturday.

Kilmarnock will be hoping to take advantage of this complacency. The visitors played out a goalless draw at home to Rangers on Wednesday to make it four games unbeaten for them, but three of those have ended all square.

This leaves them 7th in the Scottish Premiership, four points adrift of the top half of the table and only eight points above the relegation playoff position that Hamilton occupy. Nobody is safe from the relegation battle in the bottom half of the table, so Kilmarnock can’t relax yet.

Away from home Kilmarnock have managed to win two and draw four of their last six league games, but all but one of these teams were outside the top five so they haven’t had an overly demanding fixture list. Their previous visits to Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, and Hearts this season have seen them lose all four games, concede 18 goals and score just two, including a 6-1 battering by Celtic.

Celtic have been impenetrable at the back all season, but the closer they have got to the title the more shoddy they have been. Their 1-1 draw with Partick at the weekend was the second consecutive home game they’ve conceded in, and Kilmarnock have found the net in ten of their last 14 away games, including one against Celtic. This makes backing Both Teams to Score at 19/20 along with a 3-1 win for Celtic at 10/1 look a good choice here.