Derby Dilemma a Challenge for Champions
~~~~~~~~~~ Official TC Match Preview ~~~~~~~~~~

The Hoops celebrate after securing a 4th straight Premiership title last weekend

Ipox Stadium, Glasgow
Sunday, 4 May 2025
12.00 BST

Tomorrow is derby day in Glasgow, when the newly crowned Champions make the short trip to the southside and the home of city rivals in a match that is far from meaningless.

The Bhoys wrapped up the Premiership title against Dundee United in style last weekend, with a resounding 5-0 victory. As it turns out, the Celts would've still won the title regardless, after St Mirren kept Sevco to a 2-2 draw in Paisley.

The Hoops may have secured the title for a 4th straight season, but that has not come without it's share of issues and there are still challenges that face Celtic - not least of which has been the worrying trend in the past few of these head to head fixtures.

For so long Brendan Rodgers held the upper hand in this particular head to head, and could boast of arguably one of the best overall records in this fixture, but that is in danger of slipping after the last few derby day clashes, with predictable tactics and defensive lapses exposed.


Nicholas Kuhn scored twice in the 5-0 victory against United as Celtic clinched the Premiership title

Celtic were fortunate to get their hands on the League Cup, after the Final finished 3-3, sending the showdown to the lottery of penalties, back in December.

Since then, it was an utterly dismal display which resulted in a 3-0 loss at Ipox at new years, while even on home soil in March, predictable tactics and another below par performance saw the Hoops trailing 2-0 early, before coming back to draw level, only for late heartbreak to end in a 3-2 loss at Parkhead.

Conceding 3 goals in each of these last 3 meetings has to be of major concern, so it will be interesting to see how Rodgers has prepared the team for tomorrow to rectify this.

Meanwhile, the hosts come into this match on the back of a 2-2 draw against St Mirren, which means that they are now 5 games without a win overall (D3 L2) in the past month.

Amd their home form is even worse, currently standing at 6 winless games at Ipox (D1 L5) going back to early February, and having scored just once in that time. Queens Park (2-0), St Mirren (2-0), Fenerbache (2-0), Hibernian (2-0) and Athletic Bilbao (0-0) have all secured clean sheets on visits there, and while Motherwell did concede, they still emerged with a 2-1 victory over the Govan club.

Considering how other teams have fared in recent months, both before and since Barry Ferguson has taken interum charge of the Govan club, there should be no shortage of clues for Brendan Rodgers to sift through, in how to get the Hoops fully prepared for this weekend, and for the Celts to put the recent derby displays behind them and prove why they are the deserved Champions of Scotland.


Callum McGregor will lead the Champions having missed the last clash between these sides back in March

Stats and Facts​

• Celtic are looking for their first win at Ipox since September 2023.

• Brendan Rodgers will be looking to get back to winning ways in adding to his impressive personal record against Sevco, winning 15 of 22 in total (P22 W15 D4 L3).

• The Hoops have scored at least 3 goals in a game a remarkable 29 times across all competitions so far this season.

• Both teams have been undefeated in the Premiership this season when they have scored first (Celtic W26 D2 L0, Sevco W17 D2 L0).

• However, Celtic have managed to win just once after conceding first in the League (W1 D0 L4), while the Govan side have overcome going behind three times (W3 D4 L7).

• The hosts home form has seen them go winless and scored just 1 goal in their last 6 matches at Ipox - losing 5 and drawn 1 - across all competitions.

Reo Hatate strike against Sevco gave the Hoops hope the last time these sides met

Team News

The big news that broke yesterday was the confirmation from Brendan Rodgers, that Jota has suffered an ACL injury in the win against United, last weekend, with the winger now set to miss the next 6-9 months.

Celtic will be without Kasper Schmeichel (shoulder) and Alistair Johnston (hip), while Yang Hyun-jun (arm) also has a question mark concerning his availability for Brendan Rodgers' side.

As for the hosts, Ridvan Yilmaz, Neraysho Kasanwirjo, Rafael Fernandes, Findlay Curtis and Ross McCausland, Leon Balogun and Tom Lawrence are all either out or doubts.​

Referee: Nick Walsh

The highly rated Walsh has taken charge of 178 Premiership matches to date in his career, including officiating more matches at this level than any of his peers this season (21) - and has also shown more straight red cards than any of his peers thus far (6).

Overall Record
M:41 W:35 D:5 L:1

VAR: Andrew Dallas



~~~~ Head to Head ~~~~

Overall
P:45 W:25 D:8 L:12

Last 5 Meetings
L L D W W

~~~~ 2022/23 Form ~~~~

All Comps
W W W L W ~ D L D D L

SPFL
W W L W W ~ D D L W W​