St Johnstone vs Celtic Prediction: Follow the form as top plays bottom in Perth on Sunday

The Scottish Premiership welcomes April with a complete programme spread across Saturday and Sunday. Four games make up Saturday’s schedule, with Rangers hosting Hibs in the main event. You can read an in-depth preview and follow our predictions at Ibrox elsewhere on Betfred Insights.

On this page, we focus on Sunday’s match in Perth, where St Johnstone and Celtic meet from noon in a game you can follow live on Sky Sports. Can St Johnstone score a huge upset and boost their chances of survival by beating the champions? Betfred’s Frank Monkhouse offers up his expect St Johnstone vs Celtic Predictions...

St Johnstone welcome Celtic to McDiarmid Park, with the visitors hot favourites to add another impressive win and three Premiership points. The home team are bottom of the league after 31 games played and time is running out for Simo Valakari’s men to secure their top tier status for next season. Needing a win against the pace-setters isn’t ideal, but we’re entering a crucial stage of the season.

Celtic are in pole position, sitting 11 places higher than their hosts with 52 more points on the board. The Hoops have scored 92 goals and conceded just 20 in their previous 31 starts. When comparing that to the 32 for and 57 against for St Johnstone, Sunday’s game looks easy enough to solve. But pressure does funny things to teams. Will Celtic get the job done, or can the locals upset the odds? Make your predictions on the Betfred app or site.

St Johnstone vs Celtic Odds

With the best team in the league playing the worst, there are no surprises in the pre-match betting odds available at Betfred. Most followers of the Premiership expect Celtic to win as they move closer to another crucial league win and a step towards a sensational treble. The Bhoys are at the top of the league, have already won the League Cup, and are in the latter stages of the Scottish Cup. You can back Celtic on Sunday at 1/6.

Despite their domestic dominance under the guidance of Brendan Rodgers, the visitors arrive having lost two of their previous five starts, including a painful 3-2 home defeat to Rangers in last month’s Old Firm derby. They’ve suffered just three defeats all season, but with two in their previous five, could they be easing off with the finish line in sight? St Johnstone fans certainly hope so and know they must take full advantage. You can back the home win at odds of 18/1 or try the level finish on Sunday at 7/1.

Celtic -1 handicap

Our first bet at McDiarmid Park on Sunday afternoon is Celtic -1 goal on the handicap. We return to the market that gave us a winner last weekend when the Bhoys made light work of Hearts in Glasgow. I expect another comfortable win for the league leaders, and the handicap allows us to play for better odds than you’ll find in the match-winner betting.

Backing Celtic -1 goal on the handicap would’ve bagged you a profit in each of the previous two meetings of these sides this season. Rodgers led his men to a memorable 6-0 win at this venue in September before smashing four goals past the Saints without reply late last year in Glasgow. Taking Celtic -1 was the correct approach in the last four games.

Daizen Maeda to score first

With our main pick secured, we search for a second option at higher odds. Back Daizen Maeda to score first on Sunday at an attractive price. That bet is best suited to a single or in small multiples, including accumulators. The attacker’s form suggests backers will get a run for their money and have a strong chance of snagging a profit.

The stats show Maeda travels to Perth in fantastic form. He netted a double in last weekend’s 3-0 win over Hearts, taking his recent tally to nine goals in his previous ten games. That purple patch includes strikes against Rangers, Hibs, St Mirren, Aberdeen and Hibs. Maeda broke the deadlock against the Jambos. Trust him to do the same on Sunday.

Frank Monkhouse covers Scottish Football for us here at Betfred Insights. You can check out all of his work along with that of the rest of our Football Betting Tips desk on our main Football page...