Chris Sutton names three reasons Celtic will win title over Rangers ahead of Old Firm clash
Chris Sutton believes that if Callum McGregor, Matt O’Riley and Reo Hatate start for Celtic against Rangers then they will win the Old Firm clash and SPFL title.
The two Glasgow giants meet in the final Old Firm game of the SPFL season on Saturday 11 May, with Philippe Clement’s side knowing they must win to stand a realistic chance of winning the title.
But while writing in his column for the Daily Record (10 May), Sutton admitted that he is “pretty certain” his former side would have already wrapped the title up if their first-choice midfield were available more often this season.
“Callum McGregor. Matt O’Riley. Reo Hatate. It’s going to take more than three players for Celtic to get the job done against Rangers,” he said. “But, if the trio fire, the title will belong to Brendan Rodgers.
“Injuries happen. It’s part of the game. But I’m pretty certain that, if a fully tuned-up McGregor, O’Riley and Hatate had been able to start together for even half of the Premiership matches so far, Celtic would have the title in the bag.
“It didn’t happen, so, as it stands, it is still on the line. But McGregor, O’Riley and Hatate have the opportunity to put it to bed now. And I suspect it’ll take a big Rangers display to stop them.”
Chris Sutton is forgetting Rangers have had major issues too
Sutton is never one to be positive about Rangers, and with his Celtic history in mind that makes sense. But this is a strange take anyway.
Yes Celtic have had their injury problems this season, but it’s not as if the situation at Ibrox has been pretty all season and they’ve only just managed to keep in touch with their rivals.
Michael Beale started the season as the manager and got off to a horrendous start before being sacked, and ever since Clement came into the club he has been dealing with a crazy amount of injury issues.
You could even argue that Clement hasn’t had his first-choice lineup on the pitch at any point, because he doesn’t know it and the injury situation hasn’t allowed it.
Even for the game at Celtic Park at the weekend the visitors will be without Abdallah Sima, Rabbi Matondo, Ryan Jack, Danilo, Oscar Cortes, Connor Goldson and Leon Balogun.
If Rangers win the title it’s because they’ve been better than Celtic, not because Rodgers had key players missing.
In other Rangers news, Nils Koppen is leading the charge with the Ibrox transfer strategy this summer with advanced talks underway for the first signing already.
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