The Scottish Premiership enters the split phase this weekend and Dundee play host to Celtic on Sunday.
The Scottish Split
Celtic begin the split at the top of the Scottish Premiership with a title win within their own destiny.
In Their Hands
Although the Scottish Premiership had a scheduled hiatus last weekend, league leaders Celtic may be wishing for an additional seven days rest after their exploits in the Scottish Cup. They may have got the better of Aberdeen, but they certainly did so the hard way.
Pegged back in both the dying seconds of full and extra-time, the Hoops were taken all the way through to penalties and with the Dons failing to produce a winning ticket from 12 yards, it was Brendan Rodgers’ men who secured their second final appearance in as many seasons.
An enthralling encounter for those who watched the game, a level of attrition that Celtic’s players were neither planning or hoping for and after an exhausting 120 minutes of action, they now travel to Dundee without wanting to show the after effects of such a bruising battle.
Going into to their meeting with Dundee, it is Celtic who start the split phase of the season with a three-point advantage over Rangers and a better goal difference than them to boot. The reason for that three-point can be some part explained by Sunday’s hosts.
After preparing to host Rangers on two separate occasions and seeing a deluge of rain scupper them both times, the third time was finally the charm in getting the final regular season game etched in the history books.
With that said, Rangers may have wished they had a fourth opportunity and after being held to a bore draw by Tony Docherty’s men, it was a draw that was not celebrated by not only the blue half of Dundee but also the green and white half of Glasgow.
While it was also a point that keeps Dundee’s European hopes alive, and they would have been further boosted by Aberdeen’s eventual exit out of the Scottish Cup. Had the Pittodrie outfit reached the final and then gone on to win it, it would remove a European invite from the league.
This now means that those teams that finish in the top five of this season’s Scottish Premiership will enter some form of European competition next season and with Dundee currently playing the role of outsider looking in, they have St Mirren a position above in their sights.
Whereas Dundee have St Mirren in their sights, Celtic have Rangers in their rearview mirror and although many expected them to start the split in second after the latest edition of the Old Firm derby saw the points shared, not many would have expected them to start it sitting at the top.
But now it is time for the first of my two tips and after Celtic’s legs took a collective punishment last Saturday, they may need time to grow into this game. Therefore, I am going to back the draw at half time and the away win at full time at odds of 3/1.
In addition to this, I am going to opt for a correct score and as long as Celtic get out of Dundee with three points, manager Brendan Rodgers will be happy enough. A 1-0 win does not have to be pretty, but it does need to be the outcome to turn odds of 9/1 into weekend winnings.
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