This season, with another Glasgow club entering the Premiership, was supposed to herald a new era of intense competition for Celtic following five back-to-back title wins. Instead Celtic made a mockery of that by bolstering an already dominant squad with Scott Sinclair and Moussa Dembele, hired Brendan Rodgers as manager and embarked on a fantastic unbeaten run. Nineteen wins, one draw and zero defeats from the first 20 games of a season is sensational stuff, and bookmakers have stopped bothering with the title race. ?
A betdsi review of the odds shows Celtic are outrageous favourites to win the league. Odds of 1/1000 are just ridiculous. Nobody is going to bet £1,000 just to wait until May to win £1. The title race is over and it’s six in a row guaranteed. But there are still some interesting markets out there. When the competition is so poor, you can simply compete against yourself to continue improving, and Celtic could go on to do something special this season.
Nobody has ever finished a season unbeaten in Scotland’s top flight to join the likes of Juventus, Arsenal and AC Milan as Invincibles. The rigour of the Old Firm playing each other four times a season has always made it too difficult. Under Martin O’Neill and Neil Lennon, Celtic went close, but lost a solitary game each time.
We are now past the halfway stage of the season and Celtic have yet to taste defeat. The way they have acquitted themselves in the big games suggests they really could go on and do it this season. At home they have been unplayable. The 5-1 thrashing of their rivals was a high point, as was the 4-1 win against Aberdeen. The real test will come on the road. They have already won 2-1 at Ibrox. The games they have to emerge with something from are against Aberdeen and Hearts. They have, however, already won 1-0 at Pittodrie and 2-1 at Tynecastle so there is nothing to suggest they cannot win again at those grounds.
Celtic are 7/2 to remain unbeaten and the way they are playing that looks a great bet, even if history is not on their side.
It could be that the presence of their neighbours has given them the jolt they needed. They won just 26 of 38 games last season, but their form has massively improved this time around thanks to the improved ambition – and astuteness – they showed in the transfer market and in bringing in Brendan Rodgers, who not long ago was seen as one of the brightest managers in the game following his title tilt with Liverpool.
In Dembele, Celtic have a striker firing on all cylinders. With Sinclair and Scott Brown in midfield, they are too strong for anyone. Another option would be to play the 8/15 on Celtic getting more than 100 points. They got 55 in their first 19 so they should make it 100 from 38. Of if you’re feeling really bold, how about the 33/1 on them winning all their remaining games? The only time they dropped points was away at Inverness on September 18, and that is but a distant memory now.
