St Johnstone v Celtic
Football: Scottish Premier League
Sunday 24th January Kick Off 3.30 pm

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St Johnstone 9th - Home Record W2 D3 L3
Celtic 2nd - Away Record W5 D1 L3

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St Johnstone won 3-0 at Forfar on Monday night in the Scottish Cup including a rare goal from Striker Kenny Deuchar. This will be a confidence boost to Deuchar who was prolific in the lower leagues but is yet to find the net in the SPL. Indeed this was the saints first game in 3 weeks as they had 4 games postponed due to the big freeze.

But they showed no signs of being rusty as they won comfortably. Derek McIness side have certainly done well in their return to the SPL this season. Survival is certainly the main aim but they could still sneak into the top 6. Although only 6 points clear of bottom side Falkirk, they do have games in hand and are only 4 poins behind 6th place Motherwell with 2 games in hand.

They won their last 2 SPL outings but face Celtic this time out and will be much tougher. But Celtic do have a dodgy defense and St Johnstone certainly havent struggled to score goals as they have 24 SPL goals which is more than any of the bottom half sides. Its at the other end of the field that they need to improve and this could certainly make for a game with plenty of goals.

Meanwhile Celtic have continued to be inconsistent in the SPL as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Falkirk last Saturday. Celtic were missing several first team players but still much better is expected from the Celtic faithful, many of whom booed their side off the pitch.

They had looked to have turned a corner as they played Rangers off the park 3 weeks ago in a 1-1 draw but are sill struggling to find a good run of form.They now sit 9 points behind Rangers with a game in hand and will need to find that consistensy to stay in touch with them, indeed they will have to look over their backs at Hibs and Dundee United who are not too far behind them.

The positives for Tony Mowbray' side have to be the form of Samaras and Fortune who have looked much better in recent weeks, the ever reliable Aiden Mcgeady and the emergence of Irish youngster Niall Mcginn who scored the winner at Morton on Monday night in the Scottish Cup and indeed it was his second goal in recent weeks. This will definitely be a test for Celtic but they defninitely cannot afford a slip up here and expect them to come out all guns blazing, and expect a few goals here.

ST JOHNSTONE LAST 5
Forfar 0-3 St Johnstone ( Scottish Cup )
Motherwell 1-3 St Johnstone
St Johnstone 1-0 St Mirren
Rangers 3-0 St Johnstone
St Johnstone 0-1 Kilmarnock

CELTIC LAST 5
Morton 0-1 Celtic ( Scottish Cup )
Celtic 1-1 Falkirk
Celtic 1-1 Rangers
Celtic 2-0 Hamilton
Hearts 2-1 Celtic

BETTING VERDICT

This wont be easy for Celtic although I expect them to bounce back after last weeks dropped points. However I do expect a few goals in this game and the 4/6 availale for OVER 2.5 GOALS is the main bet for me and better value than whats available for the celtic victory at 4/9.

The Pick :

St Johnstone 1-3 Celtic

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

OVER 2.5 GOALS