Kilmarnock v Celtic
Football : Scottish Premier League
Saturday 15/10/2011 - Kickoff 12.30 (local)

---

Kilmarnock

Kilmarnock are sitting in 7th place in the SPL having won only 2 games, lost 4 and drawn 4. In truth this is a pretty poor reflection on the decent brand of football they have been promoting this season.
They had been going along nicely until the recent run of 3 losses in a row has really undone the early season promise being shown.

Dutchman Danny Buijs should be back in the team for this game and I reckon he is a player they have been missing with his experience and dig in the middle of the park. Kilmarnock also need top scorer Heffernan to start scoring again, he's failed to score since bagging a hattrick in the cup 4 games ago.

Unlike some managers against the old firm, I expect Kenny Shiels to courageously stick to his attacking open style of play making good use of his wide men like Dayton who can cause trouble on his game.

There are no new injury worries for Killie here.

Possible Kilmarnock lineup :
Bell, Fowler, Kroca, Sissoko, McKeown, Dayton, Pascali, Hay, Buijs, Heffernan, Shiels (4-4-2)

Celtic

10 points a drift of Rangers, down to 3rd place and already 3 loses this season, of course talk of a Celtic crisis is being spouted by the media but one thing is true, mentioned by Charlie Mulgrew this week tomorrows game is an absolute must win in my eyes.

I think the fans and the media have the right to question the players mental strength after the 2-0 loss at Hearts last outing, granted Celtic went down to 10 men but with 25 mins still left in that match not one player looked like they wanted to fight to save the defeat.

So what is the problem? Well, one thing I've noticed is Celtic are certainly not scoring the goals that came so easily for them last season. They have only twice this year scored more than 2 goals in a game (and still they resign Samaras.....) Hooper and Forrest are the clubs top scorers on 4 a piece with Stokes only on 3, compare that to Rangers top scorer Naismith on 8 goals.

Injury wise Celtic will be without club captain Scott Brown, Kelvin Wilson and long term absentee Izaguirre. Georgios Samarsa is down as doubtful and surprise starter against Hearts Kris commons is suspended following his red card.




Possible Celtic lineup :
Forster, Matthews, Majstorovic, Loovens, El Kaddouri, Ki, Kayal, Forrest, Mulgrew, Stokes, Hooper (4-4-2)

THE BETTING VERDICT

I'll be backing Celtic here to get a positive result. As the Kilmarnock manager said earlier in the week, it's maybe not the best time to be playing Celtic after they have suffered a defeat.

There is 1.40 available for a straight win on Celtic which I do actually think is a bit of value for a considered must win match. In the last 25 matches between the two at Rugby Park Kilmarnock have won just 2 and drawn only 1.

I'm going for a 2 goal win but will incorporate a half saftey net of the -1.25 asian handicap.

The Pick :

Kilmarnock 0-2 Celtic

PERCENTAGE ESTIMATE :

Kilmarnock 10% - Draw 15% - Celtic 75%

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Celtic to win at 1.40 (various)
Also Consider - Under 2.5 goals at 2.15 (bwin)

HANDICAP BETTING :

Main Bet:
Take Celtic to beat the -1.25 goal asian handicap