Rangers vs Celtic Prediction and Betting Tips | January 2nd 2025

Rangers will face Celtic at the Ibrox on Thursday in another round of the 2024-25 Scottish Premiership campaign. The home side have endured a disappointing league campaign and will be desperate for a winning start to the year as they look to cut the points gap between themselves and the champions.

They played out a 2-2 draw against Motherwell in their final game of 2024, finding themselves two goals down at the break before summer signing Hamza Igamane came off the bench to score a brace and rescue a point for Philippe Clement's side.

Celtic, meanwhile, have breezed through the league this season and will relish the opportunity to pull further clear at the top of the pile against their arch-rivals in the new year. They coasted to a 4-0 home victory over last-placed St. Johnstone in their last match with three different players getting on the scoresheet including Kyogo Furuhashi who netted a second-half double.

The champions remain atop the league table with 50 points and are already 14 points above their midweek opponents in second place. They will be looking to kick off 2025 on a high as they continue their push for a 55th Scottish Premiership title.

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Rangers vs Celtic Head-to-Head and Key Numbers

• Thursday's game will mark the 444th edition of the Old Firm derby. The home side have won 169 of their previous matchups while the visitors have won one more, with their other 104 clashes ending in draws.
• The two teams last faced off in the Scottish League Cup final midway through December which the Celts won on penalties following an entertaining 3-3 draw after extra time.
• The Gers are without a clean sheet in their last seven games in this fixture.
• Celtic have the best offensive (52) and defensive (4) records in the Scottish top flight this season.

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Rangers vs Celtic Prediction

Rangers are on a run of back-to-back winless outings and have won just one of their last five matches. They are, however, unbeaten in their last eight games at the Ibrox and will be hopeful of a positive outcome to a tense affair.

Brendan Rodgers' men, meanwhile, are on a run of consecutive victories and are undefeated in their last 18 matches across all competitions. They have had the upper hand in this fixture in recent years and should come out on top here.

Prediction: Rangers 1-2 Celtic

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Rangers vs Celtic Betting Tips

Tip 1 - Result: Celtic to win

Tip 2 - Goals - Over/under 2.5 - Over 2.5 goals (Five of the last six matches between the two teams have produced more than 2.5 goals)

Tip 3 - Both teams to score: YES (Both sides have found the back of the net in four of their last six matchups)