Celtic

Nothing will give a Celtic squad more pleasure or more confidence than a win over their Old Firm rivals Rangers – and the fact it was a 3-0 victory on home soil in their last outing – will guarantee a buoyant mood in the Hoops camp.

It’s been a long time since Celtic enjoyed a decent run in the Champions League and Lennon’s main focus now will be on strengthening his squad to challenge for the group stages of the top European competition.

That means the current crop of players will have to prove themselves before the end of the current campaign and expect the Scottish champions to be on their metal when they host St Johnstone, despite the title already being in the bag.

Striker Gary Hooper (5/2 first goalscorer) is just one goal away from 20 in the SPL this term and he will be determined to reach the landmark in what has been a fine season for the Englishman, who has been linked with a move south of the border to the Premier League.

However, it looks like the forward, who is still just 24-years-old, wants to stay with the Bhoys to make his mark in the Champions League next season.

St Johnstone will be fully aware of the threat posed by the former Scunthorpe United man but based on their last outing, they might not have the ability to stop him.

Despite sitting in fifth place in the table, Saints have gone four games in the SPL without a win and were thumped 5-1 by a rampant Motherwell at Fir Park last weekend.

The Perthshire outfit have not won a game since they beat Inverness back at the end of March, in what has been a barren spell for manager Steve Lomas and his side.

Despite the poor run of form in the league, Saints are still just three points off a top-four finish, though, and will be looking to pull off a major scalp against the champions on Thursday night.

Francisco Sandaza has been a big loss for Lomas recently following off-field issues and the Spaniard, who is by far the club’s leading goalscorer this season with 17 in 32 appearances, is unlikely to feature against Celtic.

With their limited attacking options and their less-than-convincing defensive display against Motherwell last weekend, it’s hard to see St Johnstone getting anything out of this game in their bid to close down the gap on Dundee United in fourth.

Expect Celtic to bang in the goals, then, and it would be a brave person to go against Hooper (4/7 anytime goalscorer) adding to his goalscoring tally in front of the Celtic faithful.

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Celtic

Victory for the Bhoys will see them go two points clear at the top of the SPL with three matches to go. However, if recent performances are anything to go by Celtic will be as cool as a cucumber in the Highlands and roll over a Caley side that have hardly been pulling up trees recently. We preview what could be the SPL title decider.

Who would have thought that after the debacle that was Tony Mowbray last season that the relatively inexperienced Lennon would be able to step up and take the reigns as easily as he has. The former Celtic player made wholesale changes to his team in the summer, much like Mowbray had done the year before. But while Mowbray fell flat on his face Lennon has got his team humming.

After a bit of a sticky start to his time in charge – especially in Europe – Lennon has thrived as Celtic manager and his team are on course to wrestle the title away from Rangers for the first time in three seasons. The Hoops brand of attacking and attractive football has been a breath of fresh air after watching the Gers grind out the title in recent seasons. The signings of Emilio Izaguirre, Baram Kayal and Daniel Majstrovic have proven to be inspired. But the piece de resistance has been Kris Commons’ January arrival.  The Scotland international has 10 goals in 17 appearances for the Hoops and shouldn’t be overlooked to enhance his reputation again on Wednesday night.

Celtic head to the Highlands in probably their best run of form this season, avoiding defeat in their last 23 league matches. Sunday’s 4-1 thrashing of Dundee United was the perfect response to Rangers 5-0 mauling of Motherwell. While Inverness have written some unforgettable headlines against Celtic in the past recent results have gone the way of the men from Glasgow. Celtic have won six of the last eight meetings and the Hoops have already won twice at the Caledonian Stadium this season in the league and Scottish Cup.

Celtic are 3/10 to pick up three points on Wednesday, while Inverness are priced at 10/1 to win, with the draw on at 4/1.  A quick look at Caley’s home form this season will explain why they are such a big price to win on their own patch. Terry Butcher’s men have won just four out of 16 matches at home, with their last win in the Highlands way back at the start of March. Butcher slammed his team’s performance after a 1-0 lost at Aberdeen on Saturday and Caley’s season looks as though it is going to peter out.

While Inverness are unlikely to be hammered on their own patch they don’t have a strike force which will trouble Celtic’s rock solid defence. The Hoops have conceded just eight goals away from Parkhead in the league and look a good bet to keep a clean sheet, which is on at evens with Totesport. You can also backed Celtic to win to nil at 5/6.

Whatever happens on Wednesday night it will be a season-defining result we get from Inverness.

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