Celtic V Hibs - High scoring game likely ?

You need to go back to 2010 for the last time a Hibs team left Celtic Park with three points. In the mid 2000’s, Hibs were a very serious threat and always gave us a tough game, with matches usually being classics too, especially when Gordon Strachan was the manager.

Then, the patter era came and Hibs turned into a joke club, with Pat Fenlon and Terence Butcher ultimately sending them down to the Championship.

After their relegation and subsequent banter years, Neil Lennon has dragged Hibs by the scruff of the neck and made them a serious outfit again, capable of taking points from anyone.

However, I feel it may be a step too far for his side on Saturday, although there’s probably going to be lots of goals in a BTTS classic, similar to last season’s 2-2 draw when Callum McGregor and John McGinn both notched doubles.

The Edinburgh side boast 2.28 league goals per 90 minutes, higher than Celtic’s and even league leaders Hearts, which is some going.

A lot of this is down to Martin Boyle and Daryl Horgan’s impressive performances out wide, bolstered by the creativity of Stevie Mallan in the centre of the park too, and we have to screw the nut when it comes to him and his set piece threat.

Hibs defence is still poor on paper, yet they’ve only conceded two more than us, so we’ll need to be hoping James Forrest kicks on from his outstanding performance against St Johnstone the other week and keeps Lewis Stevenson quiet down the left.

Twice this season the international break has halted our momentum, and this is a genuinely tough game to come back to, so here’s hoping we are back with a bang ahead of Leipzig away which will follow on the Thursday after the game.