Hearts v Celtic: Bhoys to bounce back with festive performance
Published:
Last time Celtic lost a game immediately after Christmas Day the Spice Girls topped the UK charts with Too Much.
The date was December 27 1997 and the victors that day were St Johnstone but while Celtic come into their meeting with Hearts on the back of a home defeat to Motherwell history suggests the Bhoys will have “Too Much” for the Jambos to handle.
The Jam Tarts haven’t beaten Celtic since April 2012 and while that may seem recent the Bhoys’ dominance comes into focus when you consider they have won 11 and drawn one of the 12 games since that 2-1 Scottish Cup defeat.
Those stats alone should make even the short price of 4/7 for Celtic to win appeal to some, while only ardent Hearts fans are likely to pile into the 9/2 odds on a home win.
The draw is on at 16/5 but with Celtic putting in some dazzling performances against their Edinburgh rivals in recent years there could be better value elsewhere.
With the aggregate score in the 12 games since Hearts’ last win over Celtic reading 37-3 it could pay to back a comprehensive Celtic win.
The Hoops have obliged in the -2 market in five of those 12 games and can be backed at 15/4 to do the same here but with some huge wins in that run there will be plenty of people hoping to win big in the correct score market.
Wins of 4-0 (twice), 5-0 and 7-0 highlight how comfortable the Parkhead residents have been in this fixture for the last three years and at odds of 20/1, 40/1 and 225/1 respectively even a small flutter on one of these results could boost the January Sales bank balance.
A more conservative bet on Celtic to win to nil at 15/8 could also warrant consideration, with Celtic obliging in eight of the last 12 meetings.
Hearts will do their utmost to upset the odds at Tynecastle but trend followers will expect that challenge to be in vain.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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