St. Johnstone vs Celtic Prediction and Betting Odds | Premiership Dec 24
St. Johnstone vs Celtic Betting Preview
Celtic sports a +39 goal differential with St. Johnstone’s goal differential sitting at -1 through 17 Scottish Premiership games thus far. WagerTalk soccer handicapper Kevin Dolan shares his thoughts on the matchup.
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St. Johnstone vs Celtic Betting Odds
| Saturday, December 24 | Scottish Premiership Betting Notes |
|---|---|
| St. Johnstone: | +2000 |
| Celtic: | -790 |
| Draw: | +800 |
| Total: | 3.5 Goals (Odds Above Courtesy of DraftKings) |
| Game Time: | 7:30am ET / 4:30am PT |
St. Johnstone vs Celtic Betting Analysis
Celtic will look to extend their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership table on Saturday with another home win over St. Johnstone.
The Bhoys have been absolutely ruthless inside Celtic Park this season, going 8-0 on the year and notching an impressive 24 goals over that run as well.
St. Johnstone, however, are having a standout season of their own, ranking top half in the table overall, and have gone undefeated across their last six league games as well, one of which was beating Celtic’s main rivals Rangers in a 2-1 victory early last month.
Celtic have a stellar record of W16, D2, L0 against St. Johnstone across all competitions since the start of 2018, and absolutely routed them 7-0 in this venue back in April also.
St. Johnstone Look To Strong Road Form
The Saints rank as the 4th best team in the league this year away from home as they’ve enjoyed a profitable period on their travels over the 2022/23 season so far, banking 13 points from their nine road games to date.
A large part of that success for St. Johnstone has been in their tough defending this year, ranking 2nd in the league on overall tackle success rate this season and 1st on both interception rate and aggression (number of cards accumulated) also.
Offense, Offense, Offense
While Celtic have the #1 rated scoring defense in the league this year, giving up just 0.82 goals against per game on average, it’s obviously their scintillating offense that has garnered all the plaudits this year.
53 goals scored over just their opening 17 league games is an incredible return and there haven’t been many defenses able to keep the Bhoys out, with German heavyweights RB Leipzig being the last team to keep Celtic off the board in a match back in early October.
St. Johnstone vs Celtic Prediction
Despite Celtic’s overall prowess in attack this season, the World Cup hangover is still in effect, and that showed in both of Celtic’s recent performances against Aberdeen and Livingston respectively, with Celtic coming out with slender one-goal wins in both games.
Because of that, getting +2.5 with St. Johnstone here looks overly generous, especially on a team who have shown their grittiness all season, especially away from home, and who have already beaten Celtic’s main title challengers Rangers this season as well.
Despite their 7-0 blowout loss to Celtic back in April, St. Johnstone have covered this line in three of their previous four head-to-heads against Celtic in this venue, and we expect them to do so yet again here on Saturday. Take St. Johnstone +2.5 at -130 on Saturday against Celtic over in the Scottish Premiership.
Prediction: St. Johnstone +2.5 -130
Soccer Betting Tips
New to betting on soccer? Not familiar with all the wagering options, such as three-way betting and the Asian handicap? What stats should a novice soccer bettor focus on? What are some basic soccer betting tips and strategies? Carmine Bianco and Nick Borrman joined Kelly Stewart to share some tips to novice soccer bettors.
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Meet the Author
‘The sharpest sports mind in Ireland’ is how one prominent newspaper dubbed Kevin Dolan after he became the first foreigner ever to win the World Series of Handicapping tournament back in 2015. “The Irishman” made his start wagering on GAA, football, soccer and boxing, all to immense success.
Since becoming a professional bettor, he has since lit up the sports betting scene in the U.S. and abroad, winning two handicapping awards and writing a best-selling book on sports handicapping named ‘The Complete Guide to Sports Betting’.
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