Rapid Vienna v Celtic: Betting Tips

Rapid Vienna v Celtic
Live on ITV4. Kick off 6pm

With a potenitially tricky trip to Tynecastle coming up on Sunday it’s no wonder that Tony Mowbray is expected to give a run out to a few of Celtic’s fringe players for this final Europa League group game. It’s a relatively easy decision for the Celtic boss to make, after all this is a dead rubber as both teams are already out of the qualifying equation.

That said, there’s several good reasons for Celtic to want to sign off from Europe for the season in style; For the sake of pride the Hoops will be keen to avoid the wooden spoon and a point tomorrow night will keep them off the bottom spot. They’ll also be keen to keep the momentum going that they’ve built up in the last few weeks. Four wins in a row (yes just four) is the best of Mowbray’s short tenure, so another victory would keep the ball rolling. For the sake of Scottish football there’s also co-efficient points to be played for and in a era where the Scottish game is at it’s lowest ebb every single one is valuable.

In Rapid Vienna, Celtic face a team that are top of the Austrian Bundesliga where they’re unbeaten at home. Their only defeats in the last 10 games have been in the Europa League (0-2 Hamburg and 0-3 Hapoel) so that at least offers some hope to the travelling Hoops.

With unpredictable team news on either side this one looks really difficult to call. Rapid are favourites at 6/5 (Ladbrokes, Stan James Totesport), the draw is 12/5 (SkyBet) and Celtic can be backed at a not-very-tempting best price of 13/5 (Expekt). There is no stand-out bet amongst that lot.

Celtic’s propensity to concede goals via their sieve-like defence means there’s a decent chance that Rapid will find the net. Celtic too though have been on the goals trail recently and have struck 15 in their last 6. In a game where the pressure is off it could pay to back both teams to score at Bet365 at odds of 3/4 or go with the game to finish Over 2.5 goals at 19/20 with Ladbrokes.

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