Celtic head to Paisley on Saturday evening to take on St Mirren for their Premiership clash. Twitter’s top tipster, and Paddy’s Scottish football guru Andy Robson has dug into the stats and found five picks for a tasty-looking Bet Builder. Let’s get his St Mirren v Celtic betting tips.
St Mirren v Celtic Bet Builder tips
Over 2.5 goals
Daizen Maeda to score anytime
Toyosi Olusanya to be shown a card
St Mirren, 2 or more cards
Celtic to win
- A Bet Builder with these bets pays at approximately 13/1 with Paddy Power. CLICK HERE TO ADD IT TO YOUR BETSLIP.
WHEN: Saturday, 1st of March, 5:30pm
WHERE: St Mirren Park, Paisley
TV: Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football
Further Bet Builder stats are available on Andy’s Opta-powered Bet Builder stats tool, which is free to use on his website, Andy’s Bet Club. Expert insight on the Premier League can be found specifically on our SPFL predictions page. The Premier League, EFL, Champions League, and major European leagues can be found in the football betting predictions section.
Over 2.5 goals
Brendan Rodgers’ side have seen over 2.5 goals in four of their last five games across all competitions, with the exception coming in their Champions League second-leg tie against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.
This pick landed in St Mirren’s most recent SPFL game against Hearts, in which they were on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline, while the initial meeting between these sides produced three goals in a 3-0 win for Celtic.
It’s likely that the majority of goals in this encounter will come from Celtic. The expected champions have scored 82 goals across their 28 games in the Scottish Premiership this season (2.92 per game), a total that dwarfs St Mirren’s 33-goal haul over the same number of games this campaign.
Celtic’s attacking options should prove a task too difficult for St Mirren as it did in the initial meeting between the sides, and it’d be no surprise if the Hoops covered this line by themselves.
Daizen Maeda to score anytime
Maeda has found real form in recent weeks. It was a surprise that Celtic let top scorer Kyogo Furuhashi depart in the January transfer window despite the re-signing of Jota from Rennes. This has left Celtic a little light in the striker department, with Adam Idah still not showing enough to convince Brendan Rodgers that he can consistently lead the line.
Maeda played up front in Celtic’s 5-1 win over Aberdeen last time out, netting a brace from his three shots. Those two goals add to his impressive tally over recent weeks, which has seen the 27-year-old score 11 goals across his last 10 appearances in all competitions.
These numbers suggest that Maeda won’t take too long to adapt to playing as a striker regularly and that it could end up being his preferred position, given how effective he’s been there in recent weeks with his excellent pressing ability.
Maeda provided an assist and had three shots in the initial meeting between these sides; the slight tweak in his position since that meeting should see this shot volume increase here, hopefully leading to a goal.
Toyosi Olusanya to be shown a card
Playing up front against Celtic in the Scottish Premiership is a tough task for even the most lethal operators in Scottish football. Celtic dominate pretty much every game, leaving the opposition striker scrapping for opportunities and leading to frustration, which can result in caution.
Olusanya is likely to have the unfortunate task of running the channels for St Mirren here, he’s collected six yellow cards across his 27 appearances in the Scottish Premiership this season, whilst averaging 2.62 fouls committed per 90.
This record suggests that even against sides that St Mirren will have more attacking joy against, Olusanya is a combative player who can regularly catch the eye of the referee with such a high foul record.
St Mirren sit second in the Scottish Premiership when it comes to yellow cards (68). Only Aberdeen have collected more cards than Stephen Robinson’s men, who lead the way in the SPFL when it comes to fouls committed per game (13.2). These records suggest that Celtic could be in for a physical match against St Mirren here, with Olusanya producing promising numbers when it comes to fouls and cards.
St Mirren, 2 or more cards
As mentioned, St Mirren rank second in the Scottish Premiership when it comes to yellow cards this season (68). This works out as 2.42 yellow cards per game so we’re looking for St Mirren to match their card average here.
St Mirren were shown 1 yellow card in the initial meeting between the sides but recent games suggest that we could see more than one caution for the home side here. St Mirren have received 2+ cards in each of their last 3 games in the Scottish Premiership and have crossed this line in 23 of their 28 games in the Scottish top flight this season (82%).
Celtic don’t typically see high card or foul counts in their games, usually due to the fact that Brendan Rodgers’ side have the ability to suck the competitive element out of the majority of their games in the SPFL. However, St Mirren could present one of the rare opportunities where Celtic are dragged into a battle away from home when looking at their promising numbers when it comes to cards and fouls this campaign.
Celtic to win
Celtic have all but wrapped up the Scottish Premiership title for another season, a victory that would represent their 55th Scottish Premiership title. Brendan Rodgers’ side also put in a decent showing in Europe this campaign, which has been the main barrier facing the Scottish giants in recent seasons.
The away side ran out 3-0 winners in the initial meeting between the sides in which there was a clear gap in quality between the teams. Celtic had 76% of the ball with which they managed to have 11 shots and create 7 big chances. The disparity in the xG between the sides in the initial meeting is perhaps the biggest indicator of the gap between the teams (2.60-1.06).
Even if St Mirren can score here, Celtic’s significantly superior firepower in the final third should be enough for Brendan Rodgers’ side to record another victory here. Celtic have the best away record in the Scottish Premiership this season with 10 wins from their 14 away assignments this term.
St Mirren v Celtic betting tips
Over 2.5 goals
Daizen Maeda to score anytime
Toyosi Olusanya to be shown a card
St Mirren, 2 or more cards
Celtic to win
- A Bet Builder with these bets pays at approximately 13/1 with Paddy Power. CLICK HERE TO ADD IT TO YOUR BETSLIP.
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
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