Friday 8th September 2017 Kickoff:1945hrs Hamilton v Celtic Football – Scotland – Scottish Premiership Celtic have been in an unfamiliar position since they last played as they find themselves off of top spot. Aberdeen sit above them and lead the rest of the league by two points having taken maximum points from their four games thus far. Celtic’s draw with St Johnstone last time out was only the fifth time they have dropped points in a Scottish Premiership game under Brendan Rodgers which underlines their excellent consistency. They have a chance to reclaim top spot – for a few hours at least – as they take on Hamilton at New Douglas Park on Friday evening.
Every close season many experts and pundits predict that Hamilton are in for a long hard season and expect them to be amongst the favourites to be relegated. That was the case last season as they were involved in the relegation playoff, surviving by beating Dundee United over two legs. Martin Canning is well aware that his club will continue to punch above their weight for as long as they play at this level, such is their wage bill and resources available to them in comparison to the other teams in the Premiership. That said, they have a reputation for bringing through a number of young players and have started this season in very good form – winning two and drawing one of their four games. That loss came on the opening day of the season against Aberdeen and since then they have defeated Dundee at home before a very impressive 3-1 success at Hibs. Their final game before the international break resulted in a 2-2 draw with Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, which would have seemed a good result considering they trailed 2-0 at half time. Friday will be just their second home game of the campaign and you can expect them to be raring to go for the visit of the champions.
Celtic’s primary target for the beginning of the campaign was to reach the group stages of the Champions League and that was achieved following the win over Astana in the playoff round. The slight price they had to pay for that success was the mammoth amount of travelling involved to play in Kazakhstan and the physical effect that had on the players before playing St Johnstone the following weekend. The first hour of that game was as poor as Celtic have been under Rodgers in a league game, but they at least recovered to take a point and preserve their unbeaten start to the season. The Hoops can look forward to matches against Bayern Munich, PSG and Anderlecht between now and Christmas but they will also be determined to get their title charge back on track and secure another three points against Hamilton. Rodgers’ men have already seen off Partick Thistle and Kilmarnock on their travels in the league this term – without conceding a goal – and a similar sort of result ahead of playing PSG on Tuesday would be ideal considering the amount of travelling the squad have undertaken with their countries this past week.
Hamilton v Celtic Betting Tip
It was a costly enough international break for Celtic as Leigh Griffiths was injured whilst on duty with Scotland and is unlikely to be risked in this one with so many important games coming up – both domestically and in Europe. Moussa Dembele has been missing since the middle of July but he could return to action with a view to playing in midweek, whilst his fellow countryman, Odsonne Edouard, has joined on loan for the season and could be thrust straight into action for his new club.
Hamilton have made it difficult for Celtic in the past and the synthetic surface will also be to their advantage. Accies start to the season has surprised most but if they were able to get a result from this one then it would surpass even their own expectations. I have my doubts that they will get anything from this encounter as the draw with St Johnstone last time out would have focussed the Celtic team who know that they cannot afford to take these league games lightly with Aberdeen being so consistent.
Hamilton performed far better at home than on their travels last season and the win over Dundee suggests they’ll be competitive in most games again at New Douglas Park. Celtic present a completely different proposition, however, and whilst they have PSG in a matter of days, they can get the business done early in this one and be leading at half time and full time – a bet that has landed in their three league wins this term.
Celtic HT/FT 4/5 @ Betfair
