We’re still a good month away from the first Old Firm derby of the season, but this weekend we’re treated to what is easily the second biggest grudge match in Scotland, as Rangers head east, and up to Pittodrie to face Aberdeen.
Celtic (2nd, WWWWW) v Hibernian (7th, DDLLW)
Two teams with wildly contrasting fortunes, Celtic are cruising the league and the Cup while Hibs are still finding it hard to get the season going. A draw at home to Hamilton in the league last week, and elimination from the League Cup at the hands of Kilmarnock leaves them in the bottom half of the table and John Hughes with a big headache.
Rumours of dressing room unrest following the 3-1 defeat at Rugby Park were quickly dismissed by the club, but clearly things are not going well at Easter Road. With only four wins from their last 26 games, a win is needed to get the confidence back up and silence the boo-boys in the stands.
Sadly for Hibs, they’re travelling to Parkhead this weekend to take on a Celtic side positively brimming with confidence. The six-nil demolition of Inverness Caley in the Cup was an adequate response following their come-from-behind win at Kilmarnock the weekend before. A hat-trick from Georgios Samaras and a brace from former Sunderland player Anthony Stokes were just some of the standout moments in another typically dominant display by Lennon’s side, who continue to push Rangers all the way. It’s hard to see Hibs coming away with anything here, so expect more pressure on Hughes come 6pm on Saturday.
Dundee United (8th, LWDLW) v St Johnstone (10th, WLLLD)
Only twenty-three miles separate the towns of Dundee and Perth, and most St Johnstone fans will tell you that it’s Dundee, and not Dundee United that they consider their greatest rivals, mainly because United and St Johnstone do not often share the same division. St Johnstone picked up their first home win of the season against St Mirren last week, and followed that up with a 3-0 win over First Division side Queen of the South in the Cup.
Dundee United went down 4-0 to Rangers at Tannadice and needed a winner in injury time to take them past last year’s Scottish Cup finalists Ross County (a Cup final in which, coincidentally enough, they lost 3-0 to United).
Hamilton (12th, DLWLL) v Kilmarnock (6th, LWWLL)
The Kilmarnock resurgence continues. The team widely tipped (ok, mainly by me) to go down this year continues to exceed expectations. Kilmarnock are one of only three other clubs this season to have managed back-to-back win so far, and they made life hard for Celtic in the league last week. Their 3-1 win over United showed that Mixu Paateleinen’s men have a lot more fight in them than at first thought. Whether it will last remains to be seen, but for now they’re doing fine.
Accies, on the other hand, are propping up the table, a far cry from the lofty heights they reached last season. “We’re a wee tiny bit from being a good side,” said Billy Reid following last Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Hibs. He might well be right in that, but he’s got to turn it around quickly before the club find themselves drifting away at the bottom of the league.
Hearts (3rd, WLDWD) v Motherwell (5th, DWLWL)
As we predicted on these very pages last week, Hearts’ trip to the Highlands resulted in a comfortable win for Jim Jefferies’ men, but that win was offset by one of the midweek Cup upsets, namely Heart’s 4-3 defeat to Falkirk, a side formerly managed by: Jim Jefferies! The defeat continues the wretched run of luck Jefferies has in the League Cup, but at least, as the saying goes, he can now concentrate on the league.
Hearts are in third spot going into this game but have yet to get into a regular groove. A good scoring record (six goals in two games) is brought down to earth by a depleted (and leaky) defence that is causing some problems at the back. If Hearts are to fulfill their ambition of making it back into Europe, then they need to sort that out. It’s also not helping that Jefferies is confined to the stands for this game, the result of his complaints about referee Willie Collum during the 3-0 defeat to Celtic.
St Mirren (11th, LLWLD) v Inverness Caley (9th, LDLWL)
St Mirren manager Danny Lennon this week banned all newspapers from the clubs training ground, unhappy with the negative reports being written about the club. Like their opponents tomorrow, St Mirren are one of four sides propping up the table on four points, but find themselves second from bottom on goal difference. The side narrowly avoided relegation last season, but this season already looks like it’s going to be another tough year for the team from Paisley. Having said that, we’re only five games in, and everything can change. A win tomorrow would push them into 6th place, providing results go their way.
Inverness Caley are still smarting from their 6-0 defeat to Celtic in the Cup (St Mirren had already been knocked out in a previous round by Ross County). Terry Butcher rested players for that fixture, so that he could field a full-strength side against St Mirren, clearly indicating where the clubs focus lies this season: survival. Caley and St Mirren both found themselves at the bottom of the table at the end of 2008/09 season, but it was Caley who went down, having scored 2 goals less. The last time these two teams met was back in May last season, with Caley coming out 2-1 winners at Love Street.
Aberdeen (4th, DLLWW) v Rangers (1st, WWWWW)
Aberdeen’s season survived an early scare in midweek as the Dons had to come from behind to get past First division side Raith Rovers in the Cup. The 3-2 win was revenge for a humiliating fifth-round Scottish Cup exits at the hands of Raith in February, but McGhee’s side had their work cut out for them. New captain Paul Hartley continues to lead the line, scoring from the penalty spot while new signing Scott Vernon, signed from Colchester over the summer, added his fourth goal in two games.
The Dons are in fifth spot, their good start to the season taking a wee dip following back-to-back defeats and a scrappy draw against Motherwell last Saturday.
Rangers, as befits the league champions, had less trouble in midweek as they demolished a poor Dunfermline side 7-2. New forward Nikica Jelavic, signed from Rapid Vienna, got on the score sheet twice, while Kyle Lafferty scored a hat-trick to open his account for the season.
It’ll be a tough fixture for Rangers, the Ibrox side finding Pittodrie a daunting place to come. Walter Smith hasn’t won in Aberdeen since December 2006 - for their part, Aberdeen have not won at Ibrox since 1995! With Celtic facing a ropey Hibs side at Parkhead, it’ll take all of Smith’s years of experience to pull something from this game, bearing in mind that this is a much stronger Aberdeen side than he’s had to face for some time.
This fixture is always an explosive one, both on and off the park. After Celtic, the team most Rangers fans want to beat is Aberdeen, and subsequently, in the past this fixture has seen some titanic struggles (Aberdeen’s victory over Rangers at Pittodrie at the end of the 2007/08 season denied Rangers the SPL title that year).
The history this fixture brings with it (the rivalry between the Old Firm and the New Firm during the 80′s, the Neil Simpson/Iain Durrant incident and, to a lesser degree, Kyle Lafferty’s blatant cheating that lead to Charlie Mulgrew’s dismissal in the penultimate fixture of the 2008/09 season) always makes for exciting games. Passionate and committed? Yes. Pretty? No.
Predictions
Last week I got all my predictions right - let’s see if I can repeat the miracle!
Celtic - Hibernian (Home Win)
Dundee United - St Johnstone (Home Win)
Hamilton - Kilmarnock (Away Win)
Hearts - Motherwell (Home Win)
St Mirren - Inverness CT (Draw)
Aberdeen - Rangers (Away Win)
Tags: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee United, Hamilton, Hearts, Hibernian, Inverness Caley Thistle, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Rangers, SPL, St Johnstone, St Mirren