IT seems almost ridiculous, but bookmakers are seriously considering paying out on the Ladbrokes Premiership title as if it had been won by Celtic if the Parkhead club triumph at Ibrox this afternoon.
Celtic will go 19 points clear at the top of the Premiership going into the winter break and also have a game in hand over their Old Firm rivals should they secure the victory. It would seem as though the Parkhead side have it all going for them, although it was confirmed yesterday that midfielder Tom Rogic will miss the trip to Ibrox due to an ankle injury which has kept the Australian on the sidelines during Celtic’s previous three matches.
Yet it’s a tumultuous derby, the longest-running such occasion in world football, and Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers knows just what a test it will be today at lunchtime.
Rodgers said: “Derby games are always intense. We had the Swansea-Cardiff game when I was there and we won 1-0, which was one of the first times they’d beaten Cardiff away for a number of years.
“And the derby games against Everton at Goodison Park [when the Northern Irishman was in charge of Liverpool] were very intense games and passionate, and that’s what you expect and want.
“I’m sure the Rangers supporters will be really passionate about their team and that’s how it should be – really backing their team as the Celtic supporters do when we play home and away. So we expect a really tough game.
“We’ll cope with the atmosphere, of course, and we’ve done it on many occasions this season and we’ll just look to play our game.”
That domestic unbeaten record this season is not worrying him: “We just go into every game to win. There are so many variables in every game, especially in derby games, and some things you can’t control.
“But in what we can control, we look to prepare well, make sure there’s detail in our preparation, the players are full of confidence.
“We arrive into the game knowing that we average three goals away from home in the league so far, so it all points to us going into the game with a big confidence, but we understand and respect that it’s a difficult game.
“I’m sure it will be a great atmosphere and a really good venue to go and play in and take Celtic there. But it’s been a privilege wherever I’ve taken Celtic, from the first game in Gibraltar, when we had the aeroplanes in the background, and we finish off this period of the season away at Ibrox, so wherever it’s been we always get a great support and we’ll get a really good support this weekend as well.”
Rodgers took time to reflect on the Ibrox Disaster – when 66 supporters were killed at the stadium in 1971 – and the minute’s silence which will be held before the match.
He said: “The tragedy at Ibrox was one which affected Rangers Football Club and so many other people across Scotland. It transcended football and was an event which also involved Celtic so closely.
“As we have done many times before we will pay our respects on Saturday and remember sincerely those who lost their lives and all those others affected in the most tragic circumstances of 1971.”
The Celtic manager and his in-form squad go into the game with all the advantages except one – they are playing away from Fortress Parkhead where they did not lose a match in the calendar year 2016.
Will the Ibrox factor be enough to stop Celtic’s run? The bookies don’t think so, and they are usually right. Except they weren’t right about the outcome of the Brexit vote or Donald Trump election win, and for some people a reverse for Celtic today would be a bigger shock than those either of those results.
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