Celtic vs St Johnstone Prediction: Saints can score in high-scoring defeat

The festive fixtures continue on Sunday with a full six-match programme from the Scottish Premiership. Betfred’s Frank Monkhouse previews the action at Parkhead, where he expects plenty of goals.

Scottish Premiership champions and leaders Celtic welcome St Johnstone for an intriguing 15:00 kick-off on and you can check out his Celtic vs St Johnstone Predictions right here on Betfred Insights...

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The Hoops are already a dozen points clear of nearest rivals, Rangers, and will aim to turn the screw ahead of the upcoming Old Firm derby at Ibrox. They’re favourites to get the job done against a struggling Saints, but will Brendan Rodgers’ side grab a 16th win in 18 games?

St Johnstone travel from Perth to Glasgow stuck at the foot of the Premiership following a woeful run of form this winter. The visitors are winless in five and have lost each of their last three starts. Making a return to winning ways at the home of the unbeaten league leaders is no easy task, and Saints fans are hoping for a Christmas miracle.

Celtic vs St Johnstone Odds

Sunday’s game sees top take on bottom in the Premiership, and that’s reflected in the pre-match betting odds available at Betfred. Celtic are the red-hot favourites to move their stats to 16-2-0 with another strong win over Simo Valakari’s men after beating them 6-0 at McDiarmid Park back in the summer. The home team is 1/8, and Celtic’s form makes it almost impossible to argue with the traders’ stance.

We last saw St Johnstone in action on Boxing Day when slipping to a third defeat in three games. The Saints enjoyed home advantage against Dundee United but stumbled to a disappointing 2-1 reverse despite leading 1-0 at the break.

St Johnstone have played five times in December, losing four games by a single goal and drawing with Aberdeen in the spare. The away win is a stunning 18/1, with the draw trading at 8/1. Neither price is expected to attract too much attention.

Over 3.5 goals

We expect entertainment at Celtic Park and our first pick is the game to produce more than three goals for both teams combined. You can back over 3.5 in the total goals market at Betfred and get odds of 8/11.

That price should do a job in your weekend accumulators, but there’s also enough there to follow as a strong single if you’re confident.

The head-to-head stats suggest we’re looking in the right place. Betting on over 3.5 goals would’ve landed you a return when the Hoops thrashed the Saints 6-0 earlier this season. It was also the correct approach in each of the previous three meetings and in five of six. That’s good enough to catch our eye and merit an interest.

Both score and Celtic win

With a home win highly likely, we’re betting on St Johnstone having enough quality to make things interesting by scoring. Back both teams to score in a Celtic win on Sunday, and you’ll have a crack at a decent 7/5 when betting with Betfred, and those odds are available now.

Both score in a Celtic win would’ve been settled as a winning bet when St Johnstone were last in town, with the locals easing to a 3-1 victory in March.

Interestingly, 3-1 was the final score in two of the last three games involving these teams, and everyone connected to the home team would be more than happy with a repeat performance. Back both score, and Celtic win or aim higher and try the 3-1 correct score at 9/1. 

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...