Rangers vs Celtic Prediction: Will Rangers avoid defeat this time?

For their first match as Scottish Premiership winners in 2022–23, Celtic will travel to face archrivals Rangers at Ibrox Stadium on a Saturday afternoon. The Gers lost to the Hoops in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup at the end of last month by a score of 1-0, so they will be out for retribution this time around.

Rangers beat Aberdeen 1-0 at home last weekend to snap a losing streak of three games in four in all competitions. The Gers dominated play early on but were unable to find the back of the net until just beyond the hour mark, when Todd Cantwell scored on a wonderfully hit volley. However, Celtic's 2-0 victory away at Hearts sealed the Premiership title, rendering that victory meaningless. There are only four games left, and the 13-point margin between second-place Rangers and first-place Celtic means that the Gers are playing only for pride. But manager Michael Beale is anxious to halt his winless Old Firm streak against Celtic, and Rangers will be trying to earn at least seven points from their final four matches to match their points tally from last season. Only William Wilton (eight) and Graeme Murty (five) have ever failed to win each of their first five competitive Old Firm derbies as Rangers managers; Beale has failed to win all of his first four Old Firm matches as Rangers boss, losing each of his last three after drawing his first 2-2 at Ibrox in January.

After clinching their 53rd Premiership title with a 2-0 victory at Tynecastle last weekend, Celtic are still the dominant power in Scotland and are on track to win the domestic treble this season. Kyogo Furuhashi scored his 50th goal for Celtic in the middle of the second half, and substitute Oh Hyeon-gyu added a second to help the Hoops win their 11th Premiership in 12 years after Hearts defender Alex Cochrane was controversially sent off on the stroke of halftime. Celtic have won two consecutive league championships under Ange Postecoglou, and the manager will be hoping to cap off a good season with a victory in the Old Firm rivalry and the Scottish Cup final against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on June 3. Celtic have gone 28 games without a loss in all competitions since losing 5-1 to Real Madrid in the Champions League group stage back in early November. During that time, they have won 26 of those games and scored twice in 25 of them. After winning four Old Firm derbies this season; two times in the Premiership and once in each of the domestic cups, Postecoglou's team has a chance to join Martin O'Neill's 2003-04 squad and Brendan Rodgers's 2016-17 squad as the only others to accomplish the feat.

Rangers possible starting lineup:

McGregor; Tavernier, Goldson, Davies, Yilmaz; Lundstrum, Raskin; Cantwell, Hagi, Wright; Morelos

Celtic possible starting lineup:

Hart; Ralston, Starfelt, Kobayashi, Taylor; O'Riley, McGregor, Hatate; Jota, Furuhashi, Maeda

Rangers have not been able to pick up a win against Celtic in any of their matches this season, which is not surprising given that Celtic have been simply superior to them throughout the entire season. Despite this, we believe that Rangers should not make another mistake because they have already suffered too much embarrassment. However, because both the defensive and offensive lines for the Celtics are still performing at a high level, we do not believe that the Rangers will be able to have their way. A match that is anticipated to feature a significant amount of defensive play is an ideal situation in which to consider placing a bet on the under.