Brendan’s Bhoys hot favourites
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Celtic face Aberdeen in Scottish Cup final
Saturday brings the final of this season’s Scottish Cup, played at Hampden from 3.00pm in front of the BBC cameras. Click here to mark the occasion with a winning bet, or to place your cup final doubles.
Coral’s traders have Celtic nailed down as winners of this trophy before a ball has been kicked in anger, which is difficult to argue against, given The Bhoys’ form this season. This will be the sixth meeting of these sides this term, and we look at what clues can be taken from recent results.
Rodgers targets a treble
Former Liverpool gaffer Brendan Rodgers is aiming for the perfect end to his first season in charge at Celtic Park. Since taking the wheel, he has led The Hoops to another Premier League title, remaining unbeaten on-route to that success, while the League Cup is also glittering away in the Parkhead trophy cabinet. Will they complete the treble?
The stats certainly believe so, as does the pre-match betting. Celtic won the League Cup back in November thanks to a convincing 3-0 win over Aberdeen at this very venue. Rogic, Forrest and Dembele were all on the scoresheet that day. They have, in fact, already beaten The Dons five times under Brendan, three of those wins coming to nil, and three by, at least, a two-goal margin.
Rogic scoring to continue
Picking this one to follow the form, you will get a tempting 31/20 on Celtic to win to nil after 90 minutes, while there’s a range of options in the handicap market. -1 has been marked up on the board at 5/4, but if you have a tad more confidence in the favourites, we’re giving 16/5 on a final day rout, winning by two clear goals or more.
The stats also prove useful in pointing us towards a goalscorer bet. Australian midfielder Tom Rogic leads the scoring charts in this fixture, banging in three already, and he’s a real option on the day to get another, with 7/1 available on him grabbing the first goal of the 2017 final, etching his name into the history books, or 23/10 anytime. Striker Leigh Griffiths, who has two vs Aberdeen, trades 10/3 to net first.
Dons finding it tough
It has been another season of encouragement for Aberdeen fans, as they edge their way back towards the glory days, and they held their position under manager Derek McInnis to finish second. This year’s silver medal ranked as an improved effort however, with rivals Rangers in the top-flight, expecting the boys from the granite city to fall back into line.
For as good as Aberdeen have been, certainly streets ahead of Rangers over the course of the season, they’ve got nowhere near matching champions Celtic. Finishing 30 points behind Saturday’s opponents at the final count, they’ve not beaten the Glaswegians in seven attempts. That goes some way to explaining why the upset’s available at 11/2 in the match betting, or 11/4 to lift the trophy.
The aggregate score between the sides this season reads Celtic 12 – 2 Aberdeen. Not a lot for fans to get excited about there. It is worth noting however that those goals have come from Adam Rooney and Jonny Hayes, giving punters something to aim at. Rooney to score anytime is 23/10, while Hayes goes 4/1.
