Celtic are excellent value to take this victory inside 90 minutes. In their 18 domestic games this season, they have picked up victories on 17 occasions and are undefeated in those fixtures. This includes a comfortable 3-0 victory over Rangers at Parkhead.

The recent head-to-head between these teams strongly favours Celtic. They have won 5 of the last 6 between the clubs. On top of this, they have also won all the big cup matches in recent years, winning the Scottish Cup final 1-0 and the League Cup final 2-1 last season.

Rangers may come into this game off the back of a 9-game undefeated run, but this has come at a cost. The Gers put a tremendous amount of energy into their 1-1 Europa League draw with Tottenham in midweek and that could take a toll in this game if they seek to play at a similar pace. They also lost lynchpin defender John Souttar due to injury in that match.

The Hoops come into this game with 2 days of additional rest compared to their opponents, giving them another valuable edge.

Right-back Alistair Johnston is one of Celtic’s leading players when it comes to drawing fouls, with the Canada international having won 17 in the Scottish Premiership, a rate of 1.29 per 90.

When placed under pressure, the 26-year-old gives earns more fouls, and given Rangers are well above the level of the average domestic opponent that Johnston faces, this is likely to be the case in this match. In the Champions League, Johnston has drawn 12 free-kicks at a rate of 2.26 per 90.

Rangers’ left-sided players both give up a significant number of fouls. Left-back Jefte is giving away 1.24 per 90 in the Premiership this season while Vaclav Cerny sits at 0.67.

When these sides met in September, Johnston drew a couple of fouls in that clash and is likely to do the same in this game.

Kyogo Furuhashi is clearly Celtic’s main threat when it comes to getting shots away. He posts 46 efforts in the Premiership this season at a rate of 4.79 per 90, with 2.5 of these forcing the opposition goalkeeper into work. The only surprise is that he has not scored more than 6 goals.

In the previous game between these sides, Kyogo had 3 shots, with 1 of these hitting the target. He was a constant menace to the Rangers defence.

The Japan international seems to love playing the Ibrox club. He has scored 6 times in his last 6 Premiership matches against the Gers and also grabbed both goals in the League Cup final last season as Celtic ran out 2-1 winners.

He comes into this match high in confidence after scoring a goal against Hibs last weekend that is liable to be a goal of the season contender in Scotland.

Sunday promises to be a big day for veteran Rangers centre-back Leon Balogun, who is set to be called into action because of an injury sustained by John Souttar in the 1-1 draw against Tottenham.

The defender is committing 1.29 fouls per 90 in the Scottish Premiership this season.

He recently went on a run of 7 successive Rangers appearances in which he committed at least 1 foul. This ended against Ross County last weekend, but he is set to be put under substantially more pressure by Celtic this time around.

Only played 11 minutes against the Hoops off the bench at Parkhead earlier this season. In his previous spell at Rangers, he committed at least 1 foul in 4 of the 5 Old Firm matches that he featured in. Now 36 and coming off the back of playing substantial minutes twice in the last week, there is every chance he is drawn into giving away another foul in this clash.

Celtic dominate the Scottish Premiership when it comes to winning corner kicks. They are averaging 9.8 corners per game, which is 3.4 more than the next-best team, Rangers.

The Hoops are also extremely stingy at giving these situations away. Across the Premiership season to date, they have given away just 2.67 corners per match. Rangers are conceding 4.2 corners per game. When the Gers have been on the road, this figure has risen to 5.0 per match.

When these clubs met earlier this season, Celtic claimed 7 corners to Rangers’ 4, and the type of dominance that Brendan Rodgers’ side are likely to enjoy, combined with a style that is conducive to winning these situations, suggests they will dominate this domain once again at Hampden.

The Parkhead side club have won more corners than their rivals in 3 of the last 4 league meetings between the teams, with the exception last season’s Ibrox clash, which Rangers edged 3-2 in this regard.

The likelihood of cards in this game is illustrated by the fact that 7 or more is priced below 2.0, yet it still represents a good bet due to variety of factors.

Rangers and Celtic are known for their fierce rivalry, and the card count in matches between these matches has been colossal in recent fixtures. They have played each other 5 times in the last 12 months, with 2 of these games producing over 10 cards, while the previous fixture between these clubs ended with 9 cards.

Referee John Beaton oversaw the previous clash that saw that high card count and he will be in charge once again for this match. He is a referee that rules by giving out cautions, with his 20 matches this season averaging 5.55 cards.

Of the games that Beaton has refereed, 9 of these (45%) have seen 7 or more cards. This is the most potentially inflammatory fixture of any he has been in charge of this term and the potential for another big card count is huge.

Brazilian striker Danilo is likely to lead the line for Rangers from the outset of this match, having seen little match action since arriving at the Gers in the summer of 2023 because of injury problems. He should start ahead of the unconvincing Cyriel Dessers.

In limited match action, Danilo posts 3.59 shots on target per 90 in the Scottish Premiership. He has 10 efforts on target, putting him joint third in this category among Rangers players, despite playing only 251 minutes of league football.

He has hit the target at a rate that is comfortably more than twice as large as Dessers has managed. The Nigerian has 1.49 shots on target per 90.

Danilo has had least 1 shot on target in every appearance that he has made, with the exception of a 13-minute cameo off the bench against Hearts at home in the league.

He has had 5 shots and 2 on target in his only previous experience of playing Celtic – and he did that in just 27 minutes.

It’s likely to be a busy afternoon for Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland, who will face the team that possess comfortably the most dangerous attacking threat in Scotland.

Without one of his frontline centre-backs to protect him, his job is even more important.

Butland has a save percentage of 69% in Scottish football this season, which means that on average he must face 5.8 shots to make 4 saves.

Celtic have had at least 4 shots on target in every domestic game they have played this season, while they have only failed to muster 6 shots on target in 3 of the 18 Scottish games they have played this season.

Against the highest quality opponents they have faced in recent weeks, Rangers are giving up sizeable numbers of shots. Spurs, Nice, Olympiacos and Aberdeen have all managed at least 12 efforts, while Ross County even managed 10 last weekend.

With Celtic hitting the target with 37.8% of their shots this season, Butland will be very active if his defence allows their opponents in this game similar liberties.