Bank Of Scotland SPL
Saturday 10th December 2005
Celtic Park
Kick Off 3pm
After Celtic won 1-0 away to Hibs in September, I remember saying that the game would be one of the biggest victories of the season. Since then, both Hearts and Rangers have been beaten at Easter Road, showing exactly how important our victory there was.
Hibs are a strange side. At times, they play fantastic attacking football, with plenty of flair and skill, and win games with ease. Performances like this seem to be against the top sides in the league. However, when you look at a recent game where they threw away a 2-0 half time league at home to Falkirk, to lose 3-2, and last week's defeat at Inverness, there is massive inconsistency in their play.
Hibs will be on form tomorrow and I expect a tough test for Celtic.
Aberdeen last week saw us getting back to winning ways, and our second half performance was the kind that we should be putting in every game. It was a joy to watch McGeady, Nakamura and Maloney ripping the Dons apart, and it only shows what a bit of confidence can do to the side.
Tomorrow, Celtic have an unchanged squad from last week. This means that Chris Sutton will miss out, but we have a strong selection to choose from.
Gordon Strachan now has the luxury of a selection headache. Shaun Maloney played well when he came on last week, but does Strachan continue to play Zurawski, who clearly needs a couple more games under his belt to show his best?
I reckon Celts will start with the same starting side as last week, and this should be enough to match Hibs. A victory tomorrow puts us 20 points ahead of Rangers, and 10 ahead of Hibs. What more incentive to we need?
Come On The Hoops Prediction: Celtic 1-0 Hibernian