St. Mirren vs Celtic Prediction: Stroll in the Paisley park for the Bhoys

A lunchtime trip to the SMISA Stadium awaits Celtic on Sunday (noon, Sky Sports Football) as St. Mirren host the Bhoys in Paisley. The Saints started the Scottish Premiership season well, beating Hibernian 3-0 on the opening weekend before losing 3-1 a week later to Aberdeen.

There’s no surprise to see Celtic already at the top of the table, however, after Brendan Rodgers’ side followed up a 4-0 thrashing of Kilmarnock with a 2-0 victory against Hibernian. Read below for my St. Mirren vs Celtic prediction and all the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Conor McMenamin and Greg Kiltie miss out for St. Mirren again, with the former suffering from an ankle injury and the latter a problem with his knee.

Richard Taylor, Jaden Brown, Jonah Ayunga and James Scott are all potential starters after coming on in the second half of Sunday’s defeat to Dundee United.

Football Odds

Speculation continues to swirl around the future of Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley, with Atalanta and Brighton & Hove Albion reportedly keen on the Dane. However, the 23-year-old has started all four games for the Bhoys this season and until a transfer is confirmed, looks set to keep his place in the starting XI.

Japanese forward Kyogo Furuhashi missed Celtic’s cup win at Hibernian last weekend and has since been tipped to join Manchester City as Julian Alvarez’s replacement, so it remains to be seen if he makes the trip to Paisley.

Adam Idah is looking to make his second full Celtic debut after making his loan move from Norwich City permanent, and the 23-year-old is an option to replace Kyogo in attack.

St. Mirren vs Celtic Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main St. Mirren vs Celtic page on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this match.

Sunday’s hosts are 17/2 to record a shock victory over the Scottish giants, giving them an implied win probability of 10.5%, while the visitors are, naturally, huge favourites at 2/7 (77.8%).

The draw can be backed at 5/1, both teams to score at 4/5 and over 3.5 total goals at 6/5.

Celtic To Win Both Halves @ 8/5

Celtic have started the 2024/25 season on fire. The early signs were there in pre-season when they beat DC United 4-0, Manchester City 4-3 and Chelsea 4-1 in their tour of the USA, and the Bhoys have really taken that form into their competitive fixtures.

Rodgers’ charges beat Kilmarnock 2-0 in each half to rack up a 4-0 victory on the opening weekend of the new SPL season before racing into a 2-0 lead inside 20 minutes at Hibernian in their second league match, a scoreline which remained the same until the final whistle.

Then, on Sunday, Celtic beat the same opponents in the League Cup, winning the first half 2-1 and the second half 1-0 to record a 3-1 success. That’s now nine goals scored across their first three games of the season, and just one conceded – none in the Premiership.

St. Mirren, meanwhile, began the new league campaign with a brilliant win against Hibs but are now winless in four matches, the last three of which they have lost. The first two of those saw them lose 3-1, away to Aberdeen in the SPL and away to Norwegian side Brann in the Europa Conference League qualifiers, where they lost 4-1 on aggregate.

The Saints are unbeaten in three contests at home this term, following up a 4-1 victory over Icelandic outfit Valur with three points against Hibs and a stalemate with Brann.

However, none of those sides are on the level of Celtic, who have enjoyed their last three trips to the SMISA Stadium, winning 1-5, 0-3 and 0-2 in March 2023, January 1 and February 11 respectively. The Hoops have won both halves in their last two games against St. Mirren in Paisley and will be confident of asserting their superiority either side of the interval.

Celtic -2 Handicap @ 2/1

I see Celtic scoring at least three or four times on Sunday, and they will back themselves to keep another clean sheet against the Saints having shut them out in three of their last four head-to-heads.

The -2 handicap on Celtic, therefore, appeals. The reigning Premiership champions start with a hypothetical -2 goal deficit, meaning if they win by at least three goals, they win this market after the handicap is applied.

The Bhoys have beaten St. Mirren by at least three goals in two of their last visits to Sunday’s venue, and look well-placed to make it three in four this weekend.

Offers

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