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Hearts v Celtic
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Date: Sunday 22nd October 2023
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Competition: Scottish Premiership
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Kick off: 14:15
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Watch live: Sky Sports Main Event
Sunday afternoon sees Celtic travel to Tynecastle Park to face Hearts, a game that will prove to be significant in their title charge. A win would see Celtic remain unbeaten this season and, should Rangers lose to Hibernian, sit ten points clear after just nine games.
Historically Celtic have always benefitted from this fixture. The two met five times last season across the league and Scottish Cup. Celtic won all five games scoring at least two goals in each. Celtic are currently in strong form as well, having won six out of their last seven games over all competitions, only losing to Lazio in a hard-fought 2-1 defeat in the Champions League.
As for Hearts, their start to the season has been mediocre. Despite sitting in fourth place in the table, they have already been beaten by the likes of Motherwell and Dundee. Last time out they let a 2-0 lead slip against rivals Hibernian, something that will still be playing in their heads on Sunday afternoon.
This fixture has always been very good for having a flutter, with high numbers of cards, corners, and goals being recorded in previous meetings of the two. This article will aim to break down the key stats behind this game, using the Hearts v Celtic Cheat Sheet, to help inform your bets.
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Hearts v Celtic Cheat Sheet
What is a Cheat Sheet?
The Cheat Sheets are a punter’s ultimate guide to making informed betting decisions. They contain all the historical data and stats that you could possibly need ahead of a football game, from referee average cards to the players who have the most shots on target for each team.
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Enough of the build-up, here’s our breakdown.
Hearts stats: Tynecastle is familiar with high corner stats
Hearts love a corner. This season so far their average is an impressive 6.43 corners for per game. If you isolate the games played at Tynecastle this average rises to seven. Even when losing the game Hearts still manage plenty of corners; against Motherwell, where they lost 1-0, the Jam Tarts managed to take 16 corners.
Their opponents have also been taking lots of corners – 4.21 across all games and 4.71 when Hearts are playing at home. Given that Celtic have been averaging 6.21 corners per game, the match corners market should be worth a look at.
Celtic stats: Celtic have an outstanding record against Hearts
Since 2010, Hearts have managed to win just six games against Celtic, with the Hoops coming away victorious 43 times. This season Celtic have scored the most goals in the league (19), having scored in all but one fixture and averaging 2.38 goals per game. Hearts will find Celtic’s attack hard to deal with.
Leading the way for Celtic this season is currently centre midfielder Matthew O’Riley, who has seven goal contributions (five goals, two assists) in just eight starts. Not far behind him is Kyogo Furuhashi with six goal contributions.
🎯 Hearts Offensive Stats: Shankland’s super shots
Lawrence Shankland has started every game up front for Hearts, often playing the full length of the match. He has taken an average of 2.59 shots across all competitions, with 0.86 hitting the target. This represents him slightly underperforming compared to his career average, where he has taken 2.82 shots with 1.17 being on target.
Despite high shot counts, Lawrence has seen very little attacking returns. He has only found the back of the net once this season. However, across his career, he has scored a goal every two games.
🎯 Celtic Offensive Stats: Furuhashi’s fierce expected goals
Furuhashi is currently Celtic’s second top goalscorer this season, but the centre forward certainly has the potential to overtake O’Riley. He has seen 0.47 expected goals per game this season, which shows that he is getting in good positions to score with consistency.
Last time out against Kilmarnock, Furuhashi took four shots with one going on target, registering 1.02 expected goals. The game before that he scored against Lazio in the Champions League, no easy task. Finally, Furuhashi started three games against Hearts last season and scored in all three. He is the most likely candidate to score on Sunday afternoon.
🛑 Hearts Defensive Stats: Combative midfielders worth a look
Peter Haring has made the most fouls per 90 minutes of a regular starter for Hearts so far this season. The Austrian midfielder has been averaging 2.00 fouls committed per game. This has seen him commit at least one foul in all but one of his matches so far this season.
Haring is also on a high fouling streak, having picked up a yellow card in his last two matches for Hearts. There is some doubt over him starting the game on Sunday, with Steven Naismith preferring to start Calem Nieuwenhof and Cameron Devlin as his defensive midfielders. However, the latter duo also present great options for fouls bets, averaging 1.12 and 2.21 fouls per game in their careers.
🛑 Celtic Defensive Stats: McGregor in for battle
The aforementioned Cameron Delvin also has a very high average fouls won per game, sitting at 2.68 this season, 3.21 in the league. He is predicted to start in midfield, meaning he will be pitted against Celtic’s Callum McGregor in what promises to be a tough midfield battle.
McGregor has committed 0.85 fouls across all competitions so far this season, picking up two in his last game against Kilmarnock. Given his likely opponent, McGregor to commit a foul or pick up a booking will offer very attractive returns.
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