So will this game mark the start of the "decisions balancing themselves out over the season" ? Don't hold your breath.  This is an interesting one though. Dundee United have only lost 1 match in their last 17 in all competitions, and have drawn all three matches against the Old Firm so far this season. Celtic are at home, of course, which usually brings its own consequences for the opposition in various guises, and I expect Celtic to win again.

 

Will we see the return of The Traitor ?

 

The referee for this one is Steve Conroy. We know what to expect, enough said.

 

 

 

No excuses for Rangers in this one, I'm afraid. Rangers' away form has been poor, and that poor form coupled with the lack of receiving the same favourable refereeing decisions that have been granted to our main rivals so far this season is the reason for the 7-point gap at the top, as the home records of the Old Firm sides are almost identical.

 

I said this before our last away game, but I do not want to hear the words "we started slowly" in the after-match interview with Walter Smith. We started the last away game (at Tannadice) well, but we went to sleep at the start of the second half and before we knew it we'd gone from a goal up to a goal down inside 5 minutes, when Walter should have had them well warned. He's been round the block often enough, he should have known what to expect and the players should have been warned. This time we're playing a team that has won only 1 of their 10 home league matches so far this season, and lost 7 of them. They are there for the taking if our attitude is correct from the start.

 

Who will play left midfield ? Adam ? Lafferty ? Beasley ? Novo ? McCulloch ? Aaron ? Fleck ? Naismith ? Whose name will come out of the hat this week ?  That's what it seems like to me, the selection of Adam last Saturday just defied all logic for me.

 

I'd like to think that Sunday will mark the start of our reaction to the Old Firm defeat, in the same way as Celtic reacted to their thrashing at The Piggery in August. I hope I'm proved wrong, but can you really see this Rangers squad winning 12 games in a row ? I can't, personally. They have the ability to do it, but they don't have the mental toughness and, scandalous though it is to say it, they appear in certain games not to have the correct level of motivation. And that is down to the manager, in my opinion.

 

C'mon Walter, prove me wrong. Win this championship and then retire with your head held high please.

 

The referee for this one is Dougie McDonald. I wouldn't say he's particularly biased, he's just pretty poor.