Celtic v Aberdeen Betting Preview, 2016-05-08

Celtic can clinch the title in style

Sports Betting Tips

Sunday 8th May 2016 Kickoff 1230hrs
Celtic v Aberdeen
Football – Premiership – Scotland

It would take something of a mathematic miracle if Celtic are to be denied their fifth straight Scottish Premiership title but whilst Aberdeen are likely to come up short once again, the Dons would love nothing more than to delay the confirmation of Celtic’s title for at least another week. Aberdeen are also look to record their third win of the season against the Glasgow club – something which would they would have thought would be close to enough to hand them their first title in over two decades.

To say it has been an indifferent season for Celtic would be something of an understatement. Although it looks guaranteed that the Hoops will go on and clinch the league, poor performances in Europe – allied with disappointment in both domestic cup competitions – have meant the 2015/16 campaign will not be considered their most successful. News broke after the recent Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Rangers last month that Ronny Deila will be leaving his job as head coach – believing that he has not been able to make the necessary improvements from last season. It’s hardly a surprise but the timing of it is quite strange as it leaves little time for the club to find a replacement and allow him enough time to strengthen the squad before the early-season Champions League qualifiers. All that is left for the Norwegian is to see out the remaining three games of the season before he departs – there’s not many jobs in football where you are deemed unsuccessful after winning titles in both your seasons, but that’s the case with Deila and Celtic.

Depending on who you ask, this season could either be considered as Aberdeen consolidating themselves as the main threat to Celtic’s current domination of Scottish football with another second-placed finish, or it could be deemed that the team from the granite city have missed their best opportunity in a long time to finish top of the pile. Having already beaten Celtic twice this season, and with the troubles that have plagued the current champions, many felt Aberdeen were in with a great chance of springing a massive shock but their inability to capitalise on Celtic dropping points has been their downfall. A run of six games without a win, losing five of those matches (four of which were in the league), was a real blow to any hopes they had of winning the title. Even coming into this match, Aberdeen have lost three of their last five games – all but ending their own challenge. Manager Derek McInnes will be pleased with many aspect of his team’s performance this term but he will also be frustrated and disappointed that they have been unable to sustain their effort and really make Celtic earn the title.

Last weekend’s 3-1 victory over Hearts at Tyncecastle was an illustration of how good Celtic cam be when they are on their game, but that’s been too few and far between for their supporters liking. For example, that particular win came on the back of that defeat to Rangers and a very lacklustre draw at home to Ross County in the league. Whether it’s inconsistency, a lack of quality throughout the squad or the attitude of some players is up for debate, but whatever the reason – or combination thereof – it’s simply not been good enough. Celtic are on course for a very similar points total to last season but the fact that they ended that campaign strongly after a slow start gave hope under Deila that he was growing into the job and further improvement was likely this season. As that has not materialised, there was only ever one solution. All the blame cannot be left at the door of the departing manager, however, both the players and the boardroom have a lot of questions to answers going forward themselves.

As good a fist as Aberdeen have made of it, when you compare their record to Celtic then it’s pretty clear there remains a significant gap between the two clubs. The Dons have scored 22 fewer goals and conceded 13 more than the league leaders. It’s also noticeable how many more games that Aberdeen have lost in comparison. Although Celtic have not hit the heights they are capable of on a consistent basis, they have only lost on three occasions this season. Aberdeen, on the other hand, have been beaten eight times in the league. And when you consider only one of those losses have come against Celtic, it makes for poor reading. It could be argued that the mentality of both teams has a lot to do with that and the Aberdeen players have a bit to go before they can prise the league title away from Glasgow.

Celtic v Aberdeen Betting Tips

There’s very little affection between these two clubs and both managers, which is only to be expected when you consider the fact that Aberdeen are the only team to give Celtic anything to think about over the last few years, but always coming up short. With Rangers having won promotion to the Premiership for next season, that dynamic could well change but there’s still a tasty clash between these two ahead on Sunday.

Celtic’s home record in the Premiership has been very good in terms of results with only one defeat in their 17 league games at Celtic Park coming in December against Motherwell. Other than that it has been 12 wins and four draws. That record makes it a daunting task for any opponent, but Aberdeen have not won at this venue in the league since 2004. They have also lost their last three away games coming into this, and have conceded seven goals in the process, managing only two of their own. If Celtic play with the same intensity as they did so last week then I can see a very comfortable afternoon for the hosts, in a game where they may well score a few goals in Deila’s penultimate home game. 11 of Celtic’s 12 home wins in the league this season have come by a margin of two or more goals and that’s the bet I like here. There should be more than enough motivation for them as they will not only clinch the title with a win but doing so against an Aberdeen side who they have lost to twice will mean that bit more.

Celtic -1 4/3 @ 888sport