Celtic vs Ross County Prediction: Celtic title defense continues

The match against Ross County that will kick off Celtic's defense of their Scottish Premiership title will take place at Parkhead on Saturday. Last season, the Bhoys won their 11th top-flight title in the past 12 years, while the Staggies narrowly escaped relegation.

Better yet, the Bhoys concluded the previous season with the best defensive record in the division, having given up just 34 goals while scoring a massive 114 goals in the league. That works out to an average of exactly three goals per game.Ange Postecoglou left Parkhead in June to become the manager of Tottenham Hotspur. Prior to his departure, he was responsible for leading Celtic to five titles in just two years. This paved the way for Brendan Rodgers to make his way back to Celtic after a four-year stint managing Leicester City. Rodgers guided Celtic to two Scottish Premiership titles, two Scottish Cup titles, and three Scottish League Cup titles between the years of 2016 and 2019, completing the illustrious "double treble" by capturing all three domestic trophies in both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. Rodgers will be hopeful of having another successful era at the club after guiding the team to three wins, two draws, and one loss in six pre-season friendly matches, including victories over Portimonense, Gamba Osaka, and Athletic Bilbao.

Ross County finished second-to-last in the Premiership standings last season, forcing the Malky Mackay-coached team to face off against the winner of the Championship playoffs in order to secure a spot in the top division the following season (2023–2024). After suffering a loss of 2-0 in the first leg of the match, the Staggies rallied to draw level with Partick Thistle at 3-3 and then went on to win the match on penalties by a score of 5-4. Due to the fact that Ross County only managed to win nine of their 38 league matches during the previous season, in addition to recording seven draws and 22 losses, it is reasonable to conclude that they deserved to finish in second-to-last place, which was three points better than Dundee United, who were relegated automatically. In addition to this, only one club scored fewer goals than Ross County's 37 in the previous season, and only three teams conceded more goals than the Dingwall outfit's total of 60 (Dundee United, Kilmarnock, and St. Mirren). Livingston was the team that scored the fewest goals. Heading into this contest, the visiting team has already won their first three games in the League Cup, beating Stranraer, Morton, and Edinburgh City to take the lead in Group D. However, in their most recent match, they were defeated in a penalty shootout by Kelty Hearts, who play in the third tier.

Celtic possible starting lineup:

Hart; Ralston, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt, Taylor; Iwata, McGregor, O'Riley; Abada, Furuhashi, Maeda

Ross County possible starting lineup:

Laidlaw; Baldwin, Nightingale, Harmon; Brown, Randall, Loturi, Sims; Dhanda; White, Murray

Celtic appear to be on track to begin their defense of their Premiership title with a comfortable victory over Ross County, who just narrowly avoided relegation during the previous season.