Race For The Scottish Premier League: Heart of Midlothian Vs Celtic
Kick Off:- 19:45 BST, Wednesday 11 May 2011
Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh
Celtic dealt themselves an all but fatal blow on Sunday by losing to Inverness Caley Thistle, their bogey team. For some strange reason, this tiny club (in comparison) seem to cause Celtic more problems than any other club in Scotland. Going into that game, Celtic were red-hot favourites for the SPL title, and coming out of that game, Celtic are nowhere men. As can be seen from the table below, there is only a point between themselves and Rangers, but it might as well be five hundred points.
There can be no realistic likelihood of Rangers slipping up in either of their two remaining fixtures, which means that Rangers can’t be caught.
Scottish Premier League Table
Last updated: 22:25, May 08, 2011
Team P W D L Pts F A
1 Rangers 36 28 3 5 87 81 28
2 Celtic 36 27 5 4 86 78 22
Celtic of course can do no more than win here on Wednesday, and we can be certain that manager Neil Lennon and his players will do everything in their power to get that win and keep the race mathematically alive to the final game next Sunday.
Hearts might have other ideas. They love to beat Celtic. Their fans love to beat Celtic. Nothing is surer than Hearts will absolutely be going all out for a win and, looking at their recent results, we can see that they are due one.
Hearts’ last 5 game record reads…
[Hearts’ score first]
7 May Away 0-4 vs Rangers (SPL)
30 April Away 2-2 vs Kilmarnock (SPL)
23 April Home 3-3 vs Motherwell (SPL)
16 April Away 1-1 vs Inverness Caledonian Thistle (SPL)
9 April Home 0-0 vs Motherwell (SPL)
Celtic’s last 5 game record reads…
[Celtic’s score first]
8 May Away 2-0 vs Kilmarnock (SPL)
4 May Away 2-3 vs Inverness Caledonian Thistle (SPL)
1 May Home 4-1 vs Dundee United (SPL)
24 April Away 0-0 vs Rangers (SPL)
20 April Away 4-0 vs Kilmarnock (SPL)
Often a hard-fought and passionate fixture, this particular occurrence of it takes on even more significance than usual, especially for Celtic of course, and consequently, it’s very difficult to predict the outcome.
What we do know though is that Celtic need the win much, much more than Hearts, and normally that’s enough for Celtic, with their superior quality of playing staff, to on and take the points. But, you can never be sure with Hearts. Will they be as up for it as usual against Celtic? Or will they be less determined given that the result is irrelevant for them? Will they be less motivated following the disclosure that Chairman Vladimir Romanov has once again been interfering in team matters ? He refused to allow manager Jim Jefferies to play team captain Marius Zaliukas against Rangers on Saturday. Romanov claims that Zaliukas would probably be sent off because the referee for that game was Ian Brines, who has form for sending off Hearts players, including Zaliukas, the clear implication being that Brines has an agenda against Hearts. The SFA are considering the matter…
Rangers’ run-in…
Tuesday 10 May 2011 Home Dundee United
Saturday 14 May 2011 Away Kilmarnock
Celtic’s run-in…
Wednesday 11 May 2011 Away Heart of Midlothian
Sunday 15 May 2011 Home Motherwell
Anyway – to the prediction…. Celtic to win. Just.
Category: Football, Scottish Football
About the Author (Author Profile)
An insurance professional based in Edinburgh, Scotland, David Macleod is our local expert on Scottish Football. David is an avid footie fan, and is happiest crunching numbers to help write his Bettng on The Football page…
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