Celtic travel to Belfast on Friday

Celtic expected to win at a canter

It’ll be a strange atmosphere inside Belfast’s Windsor Park as the Scottish treble winners play in front of no away fans. Celtic rejected their ticket allocation for the match amidst fears for the safety of their support, so it’ll be home fans only inside the ground, officially anyway. Captain Scott Brown says it won’t make too much difference to how the team perform.

There’s no surprise to see Brendan Rodgers and co marked up as hot-favourites to get the win, with Coral giving 1/10 at the time of writing. An away win to nil may just offer neutrals a bit of an interest, but even that is nailed down at 4/7. If you make our boys right and see The Hoops running away with this, -2 on the handicap is worth a second look at 19/20.

Linfield a big price to upset

Linfield, managed by former Rangers and Northern Ireland striker David Healy, were far from convincing in the last round, sneaking past the minnows of La Fiorita 1-0 over two legs. A narrow win at home in the first tie and a 0-0 away was enough to see them set up a money-spinning night vs Celtic, but real improvement is needed.

Linfield have been on the end of one or two heavy defeats in pre-season, and that does very little to inspire a bet on the upset. A home win has been scratched out at 18/1, while the draw doesn’t look too much better, trading 15/2. Both teams to score may be worth an interest, if you’re going to watch the match live, Coral giving 8/5.

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