Celtic vs St Johnstone Prediction: Expect a dominating performance from the home side

When Celtic welcome St. Johnstone to Celtic Park for a Scottish Premiership match on Saturday afternoon, they will be looking to get back on track after a disappointing exit from the Scottish League Cup the previous weekend. The Hoops currently hold the top spot in the standings after securing all possible points from their first two contests, while the Saints are currently in last place after failing to earn even a single point.

Celtic won a historic domestic treble under Ange Postecoglou last season, but under new manager Brendan Rodgers, they will not be enjoying the same success this season. They were eliminated from the League Cup in the second round by Kilmarnock last weekend, losing 1-0 at Rugby Park. According to Rodgers, the 21-time League Cup champions "didn't do enough to win the game," and the contest was ultimately decided by a 59th-minute tap-in by Marley Watkins, which condemned the Hoops to defeat against Killie for the first time since September of 2018. Celtic will be happy to return to Celtic Park on Saturday because they have not suffered a defeat in any of their previous 21 matches played there across all competitions dating back to October of last year. During this time frame, the Glasgow giants have scored at least two goals in 19 of their games, but they have only kept a clean sheet seven times. Before suffering a shocking loss in the cup competition, Rodgers and his team had gotten off to a strong start in the new Premiership season. They began the campaign with a victory at home over Ross County by a score of 4-2 and followed it up with a victory away at Aberdeen by a score of 3-1. Celtic will head into this weekend's match against St. Johnstone feeling sure that they can get back to winning ways because they have won each of their past nine encounters against St. Johnstone, including their last two by score lines of 4-1.

St. Johnstone have had a rough start to the new season, losing five of their first six matches across all competitions, including each of their last three without scoring a single goal. The Saints were eliminated from the League Cup group stage last month, finishing third behind Championship side Ayr United and League One outfit Stirling Albion after suffering respective defeats of 2-1 and 4-0, and since then, they have lost both of their opening two Premiership matches to Hearts and Ross County by a scoreline of 2-0. Steven MacLean, who was appointed as St. Johnstone's permanent manager in May after initially succeeding Callum Davidson on an interim basis, confessed earlier this month that his Saints team is a "work in progress." Even though St. Johnstone has had a whole week to relax and get ready for their match against Celtic at Celtic Park, it is unlikely that they will be able to earn their first three points of the new campaign on Saturday. Since their 2-1 victory at home against Celtic in May 2016, St. Johnstone has not been victorious in any of their 26 subsequent meetings against Celtic.

Celtic possible starting lineup:

Hart, Ralston, Lagerbielke, Scales, Taylor, O'Riley, McGregor, Turnbull, Abada, Furuhashi, Maeda

St Johnstone possible starting lineup:

Mitov, Olufunwa, McClelland, Gordon, Considine, McGowan, Phillips, Smith, Ballantyne, Carey, May

Rodgers will be eager to see a response from his Celtic side, who will be optimistic about their chances of getting back to winning ways in a favorable home tie against St. Johnstone. The Saints are in terrible form, and they are enormous underdogs against a Hoops team that should be able to win easily on their own turf.