Pundit warns Rangers that shell-shocked Celtic are brewing a major Old Firm response as prediction cast
Celtic and Rangers come to blows again this weekend in the Premiership at Parkhead.
A talkSPORT pundit has backed Celtic to come roaring back from their Old Firm woe at Ibrox when they face Rangers this weekend.
The Premiership champions have their Europa League opener against Ferencvaros to concern themselves first, but they’ll be gunning for revenge on Sunday when hosting their rivals at Parkhead, in front of a full stadium of Hoops supporters. A packed Ibrox cheered the Light Blues onto a 3-0 Premier Sports Cup quarter-final win against Martin O’Neill’s side to progress to a semi-final against Aberdeen.
Simon Jordan has assessed the game on his mid-morning show and reckons that Rangers ought to be careful ahead of the weekend’s rematch. With O’Neill a previous regular on his programme, he knows all about the Irishman, and reckons he will be plotting a plan to stop Derek McInnes and his team in their tracks amid rising momentum.
How will Celtic respond to Old Firm defeat?
Jordan said: “They've won six games in a row in the Scottish Premiership. They're top of the league. They're doing their job there. I would not bet against them beating Rangers on the weekend. Of course, with that dreadful result, where Martin looked shell-shocked himself. He looked like a man caught in the headlights between a game that should have been easily sawn out and a game that they fell apart in.
“But these games happen. I mean, we saw Celtic under Brendan Rodgers get their backsides handed to them by Dortmund a few years ago. They'd been beaten five or six or seven, wasn't it? Seven. Then about three months later, they're bashing up Bayern Munich, and unlucky to go out of the Champions League.
“I know there's an age difference but I've sat with O'Neill. He's got plenty of energy and he's got plenty of pride. I imagine this will be the last season he does at Celtic, and I would still imagine that Celtic are the team to beat, and whether you have these individual moments in time where Derek McInnes needed the result more than Martin O'Neill did.
“I would be very surprised if Celtic don't correct that on the weekend and if you think that Martin O'Neill lacks energy, and you think that this might be a downward curve in terms of his motivations from travelling back from London up to Scotland and having the vigour and rigour of the Old Firm games, see what happens on Sunday. I bet you're writing a different story on Monday morning.
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