Celtic v Dunfermline
Football : Scottish Premier League
Saturday 23/11/2011 - Kickoff 19.45 (local)

---

Celtic

The Celtic fans have been waiting for this game in hand since the 2nd week of the season and to be honest most have already notched the 3pts up and consider themselves only to be trailing Rangers by 7pts. Things are certainly quickly looking better for Celtic with Rangers slipping up at the weekend and only managing a draw, the league is potentially still in Celtic's own hands with still 3 Old Firm games remaining. Who says the SPL isn't a 2 team league....not many!

Celtic played well at the weekend up in Inverness coming away with a comfortable 2-0 win helped by a very debatable 1st half red card unfairly given to Inverness player Greg Tansey for an alleged elbow which Terry Butcher beautifully described as "If anything it is assault by fingernail". But Neil Lennon will be pleased to see many of his players starting to show signs of confidence and getting back to the level they are capable of. Noticeably this was their first win in 10 matches where their leaky defence has managed to keep a clean sheet.

There are no new injuries to worry about and many suspect Lennon will be able to name exactly the same team for the second game in 4 days but I have a feeling he will go back to his favouite 4-4-2 with Hooper and Stokes up front.

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

Dunfermline

Since their great start to the season Dunfermline's run of form has been pretty disastrous for the last 3 months. They have now won just 1 game in the last 10 SPL games leaving them sitting just one point above Inverness at the bottom of the league and are now back in as favourites to go straight back down come June.

So a trip to Celtic Park is not really what the doctor ordered. With only 5 wins out of 27 Premier League matches at Celtic Park, Dunfermline are always up against it at Parkhead but they have won twice in the last six visits but that last win was 6 years ago.

The number of injuries Dunfermline are carrying at the moment is partly responsible for their downfall as their squad is clearly not able to cope with the number of first team players out. Just at the weekend past they were forced to play just 3 at the back as they are missing key defenders and now Austin McCann is out injured to make matters worst. So it will be a young and make shift lineup that plays tomorrow.

Possible Dunfermline lineup : (4-5-1)
Gallagher, Keddie, Potter, R Thomson, Willis, Burns, Cardle, Graham, McDougall, Dowie, Kirk

THE BETTING VERDICT

I am not even going to question whether Celtic will win this match or not as in my eyes it is a given. There is no chance that Dunfermline will be able to cope with Celtic's firepower.

Just the occasion, that it is the all important game in hand, that Celtic must win is enough to suggest that there could be a comfortable win coming up.

I can see Celtic scoring a lot of goals here and the evidence of Dunfermline defensive frailties are there. They have already been on the end of some heavy defeats this season. Dundee Utd, Rangers, Motherwell and Aberdeen all scored 4 goals against them and there is no reason to suggest Celtic can't match that.

The over 3.5 goals looks likely in this match but I shall select a Celtic win with a -2 goal asian handicap.

For those who like an anytime scorer, my pick is Antony Stokes at a generous 1.85 from Victor Chandler. He is red hot at the moment having scored 5 goals in his last 3 matches and a total of 11 for the season.

The Pick :

Celtic 4-0 Dunfermline

PERCENTAGE ESTIMATE :

Celtic 85% - Draw 10% - Dunfermline 5%

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Simply take a Celtic win

HANDICAP BETTING :

Main Bet:
Celtic to cover the -2 goal asian handicap (1.95 bet365)