Celtic to heap more misery on Hearts
Following their Scottish Cup Final win over rivals Rangers, Celtic head back into their second league game against Edinburgh opposition in three days on Wednesday night when they travel to Tynecastle to take on lowly Hearts? Have a read of our preview here:
Celtic opening up a lead
The Scottish Cup Final win was not a classic performance from Celtic but they got the job done despite having to play nearly half-an-hour with 10 men.
Against Hibs, the Bhoys were clinical again and made light work of Edinburgh’s other struggling outfit. It was an important victory as Rangers beat Motherwell earlier the same day which saw Gers lead the table temporarily but three points against Jack Ross’ side restored the two-point gap at the top.
They will need another performance on Wednesday if that is to be maintained but with Hearts in disarray, you can bank on them getting the result they need.
Stendel needs time
Hearts sank to a new low at the weekend when they were beaten by St Johnstone at home. If people doubted how much trouble they were in before this game, they can be left with no questions following another dismal display.
Hearts created very little against the side now only below them on goal difference. It was a tough game to watch for the 16,000 fans at Tynecastle but Daniel Stendel needs time to get his ideas and brand of attacking football across to the players. The team managed just three shots on target in the 90 minutes and means they have now lost four of the last five scoring just once in that run.
"You can see the players wanted to try the new things, but we did not deserve to win, we have not really created chances. I hope the fans give the players more chance to change the opinion because we need help from the stands,” Stendel said after the defeat to St Johnstone.
"We can play so much better than today. We have some big players injured and when they come back I hope we will have more quality to change things."
He could, therefore, do without having to play Celtic in his next game – it could be a long evening for Hearts supporters.
Hearts vs Celtic betting tip
There is no miracle cure for the malaise hanging over Tynecastle. The Edinburgh club may have a new manager who is known for playing attractive attacking football, but he needs to time to get the players used to his system. Celtic are not going to show them any mercy, so we are backing the Bhoys to win by two or more goals at odds of 11/4 with Betfair.
