It’s all change at Celtic this season after Neil Lennon left his post as manager following four years in charge. He was replaced by Norwegian Ronny Delia and it’s been a very eventful first couple of months for the new man. After losing (heavily) to Legia Warsaw in the second qualifying round for the Champions League, Celtic were sensationally reinstated as it transpired that the Polish Club fielded an ineligible player. The end result is that Celtic will play Maribor in the play-off round for a position in the group stages and Legia are demoted to the Europa League. It relieves some of the pressure on the new manager and his players, both of which responded positively in their first league game of the new SPFL season, winning 3-0 away to St Johnstone. With the first leg of the play-off looming on Wednesday, another confidence boosting win would be the perfect build-up.
Dundee United enjoyed a very good season in Jackie McNamara’s first full season in charge, finishing fourth and reaching the final of the Scottish Cup. They may well consider themselves unlucky not to have that that competition but it was a definite sign of how much they had improved in a short space of time, and the perfect platform to have another successful season this time around. It couldn’t have started any better for them either – beating both Aberdeen and Motherwell without conceding a goal. Both of those sides finished above United last season so it would have been another confidence boost so early in the season.
There have not been wholesale changes in the Celtic squad despite a change of manager but you can see a slight change in style with more emphasis on pressing higher up the pitch and using more width in attack. With just over a fortnight to go in the transfer window it remains to be seen whether or not Delia will strengthen but a lot may well depend on how the matches against Maribor go.
As with all clubs in Scotland – including Celtic – Dundee United are left exposed to clubs from England and Europe hovering around their better players. During the summer they cashed in on the sale of Ryan Gauld to Sporting Lisbon and Andrew Robertson to Hull – both of whom have huge potential and were shining lights last season. The challenge for the players who were brought in, and those who remain from last season, have to continue to progress and compensate for those departures.
These matches are rarely dull and usually provide plenty of entertainment. United will be full of confidence after taking six points from six and leading the league early on. Celtic got back on track after the Legia embarrassment with that win over St Johnstone so it’s set up nicely for a good game. I can see both sides going for it and it should mean plenty of chances.
Both teams to score 4/5 @ Bet365
