The Semi Finals of the Scottish League Cup, sponsored by Betfred, get underway as Hibernian take on league champions and current holders Celtic at Hampden Park. 2015/16 finalists Hibernian showed all their fighting spirit to get through a tough Quarter Final against Livingston. The Scottish Premiership side twice came from behind before nicking a 3-2 victory thanks to an 83rd minute penalty.
That was a far cry from the previous round, when they brushed aside Ayr United with a dominating performance which ended in a 5-0 win.They have proven themselves tough to beat this season, with a 1-0 loss at home to Aberdeen last weekend being just their second league defeat of the season. However, they don’t win many games either and four of their last six league matches have ended in a draw. Boss Neil Lennon has already led his side to a 2-2 draw with Celtic this season and will be hoping his side can take advantage of any weariness in the champions after their European adventure in midweek.
Scotland – Betfred Cup – Hampden Park, Glasgow – Saturday 21st October – 12:15 UK Time
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Draw Best Odd of: 4 at Ladbrokes |
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Hibernian
CelticCeltic
Celtic are simply unstoppable domestically, and sit atop the Scottish Premiership with seven wins and two draws from their nine games. They have eased past both Kilmarnock and Dundee in this competition, winning 5-0 and 4-0 respectively. The champions, and cup holders, come into this tie on a run of fifty-nine domestic matches unbeaten, although they required a late equaliser against Hibs last month to keep that run going. They struggled a bit last weekend as well, before nicking a 1-0 win over Dundee, and a tough Champions League tie with Bayern Munich in midweek may have an adverse effect on the players. Regardless of any weariness, Celtic will be determined to book themselves a place in the Final against either Rangers or Motherwell.
Head to Head
Celtic hold a big advantage over Hibernian with regards their head to head record. There have been 72 meetings between these sides since 1994, with Celtic winning 46 of them. Hibernian have just eight victories, and eighteen have been draws. Hibs haven’t beaten Celtic since December 2012, and that is their only win in the last seventeen meetings stretching back to 2010. However, Celtic had to come from behind to secure a 2-2 draw in the most recent meeting at the end of September.
Betting Odds and Predictions
Despite the recent draw between the sides, Celtic are a huge favourite to pick up the victory here. The champions are priced at 2/5 with Betfred to win this match. Hibernian are at odds of 7/1, and the draw is priced at a tempting 4/1. With Celtic having gone through a tough and demoralising defeat against Bayern Munich in midweek, they could be ripe for the picking and Hibernian will take advantage of any weakness they show.
In saying that, we do not think Hibs have the quality to end Celtic’s 59-match unbeaten domestic run so a draw is the best they can hope for. Taking everything into account, everything points to a Celtic victory here. If Celtic can hit the type of free-scoring form they have shown in the two previous rounds, Hibs may be in for an extremely long day. Also, there’s plenty of potential for punters to make a healthy profit if this is the case. Celtic are priced at 2/5 to score over 1.5 goals, 5/4 to net over 2.5, and 10/3 to score over 3.5 goals.
They are also priced at 5/6 to score in both halves. We think Celtic to score over 1.5 goals is the pick of those, at odds of 2/5 Hibs are the only team to score against Celtic in their last five domestic matches, and will be confident of finding the net against them again here. Punters can get odds of 8/11 on Hibernian scoring over 0.5 goals. It’s also 4/5 for both teams to score in this match.
Top Betting Tip
Having taken everything into consideration, we think the best chance of making a profit from this match will be by backing Celtic to score over 1.5 goals. This is priced at 2/5 with Betfred.