Previews

Celtic aim to catch Rangers

Author: Rose Young
Date: 25/12/2009
Football betting

The Scottish Premier League gears up for the festive period and hopefully the winter chill won't bite on Boxing Day.

Celtic will be looking to continue their challenge of dislodging fierce rivals Rangers at the top of the table with a home win against Hamilton.

Tony Mowbray's men lost disappointingly at Hearts last weekend.

After going a goal up, the Bhoys could not hold on as a Michael Stewart penalty and Ismael Bouzid header stole the points.

To make matters worse, in the lead up to the penalty Gary Caldwell was sent off for pulling down Jamie Mole.

Dundee United entertain Kilmarnock at Tannadice as they look to continue their fantastic start to the campaign.

The Terrors sit comfortably in fourth position and despite going down 3-0 to leaders Rangers last time out on December 15, they should be confident of getting back to winning ways.

Manager Craig Levein has impressed that much this term that he has been named as the new Scotland national team boss.

That has left Peter Houston to take over in the Tannadice hot-seat for the time being.

Kilmarnock are struggling at the wrong end of the table and last weekend's demoralising 2-1 home loss to rock-bottom Falkirk further added to their woes.

Motherwell tackle St Johnstone at Fir Park as they look to consolidate their top-six placing in the league table.

They will want to put last week's 6-1 mauling at Rangers to the back of their minds ahead of the winnable clash with the Saints, who have top-six desires of their own.

Aberdeen take a trip to St Mirren as the Dons seek to turn their awful run of form around.

Three successive defeats has saw the Pittodrie outfit drift into sixth position and manager Mark McGhee will want to arrest this run.

However, Buddies boss Gus MacPherson has watched his side go without a win in their last eight games and if they don't turn this spell around, they will have a bleak winter in front of them.

Falkirk have the opportunity to grab a win and climb of the foot of the table with Hearts coming to town.

With the Bairns grabbing just their second win of the campaign at Kilmarnock last week they should be aiming to shoot down Csaba Laszlo's men.

The Jambos beat Celtic 2-1 in their last fixture and a win of their own could see them sneak into the top six.

On Sunday, leaders Rangers, who are the sportsbook favourites to win the league this season, make the short trip to Edinburgh to face Hibernian at Easter Road.

Leading city rivals Celtic by four points, Walter Smith's men will want to further cement their position at the top of the tree with another win.

Hibs will be buzzing going into the clash on the back of an impressive 12-game unbeaten run and a win would aid their own title credentials as they sit in third place.

Will Hibernian's fine unbeaten run continue against Rangers on Sunday? - Latest Football Betting

With top-scorer Anthony Stokes in fine form, he will be looking to add another feather to his cap but on the other hand, Rangers pair Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller have notched an impressive 23 times between them in the first 16 games of the campaign.

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