Celtic vs Lazio: Clean-sheets beware

Group E of the Europa League is shaping up quite nicely as Celtic prepare to host Lazio on Thursday. Will the Bhoys be able to see of the Italian club’s immense attack? Have a read of our preview here:

That’s how you respond

After winning their first seven league games, Celtic went on a bad run, well a bad run for them anyway, when they drew with Hibs and followed this up with a defeat against Livingston.

If they had gone three straight games without bagging a win, the green and white half of Glasgow would have gone into meltdown but thankfully they responded and then some.

Neil Lennon’s boys smashed six past Ross County at the weekend, with four coming in a 10-minute spell after the break, to put the last two displays firmly in their rear-view mirror. They can now face Lazio with that off their back and concentrate on maintaining their unbeaten start to the group stages following a 1-1 draw in Rennes and a 2-0 victory of Cluj.

This is all set to be a great European night at Celtic Park and one Hoops fans will be sure to remember.

The comeback with character

If you are not a regular partaker of Italian Serie A football then you are missing out. The game has moved on from the stale defensive battles of old and although some clubs are still not easy on the eye, this cannot be said of Lazio under Simone Inzaghi. Whether the former-striker enjoys seeing his side ship three goals only to romp back to rescue a point is hard to tell but that’s exactly what they did last weekend.

Trailing Atalanta 3-0 at the break after some of the most shambolic defending of the season, the Bianocelesti fought back in the second half to take the most unlikely of points.

Two penalties certainly helped but the cool head of Ciro Immobile, who has hit nine goals in his last eight games, helped to make sure the chances were taken against a European chasing rival.

Lazio have failed to score only once this season in the league and in fairness, that was on a trip to the Giuseppe Meazza to face high-flying Inter.

This is a team that like to score goals but they are not always as solid defensively as they really need to be in order to achieve the ultimate goal of Champions League football next season – the Europa League will have to do for now.

Celtic v Lazio betting tip

Neither side are goal shy so the obvious bet to go for in this one is both teams to score at odds of 7/10. It would be a shock to see either side keep a clean-sheet based on recent results but whatever happens, this should be a cracker.

Bet Both teams to score on Bet365