Winless Hibernian face in-form Celtic at Easter Road
A look at Hibernian's five-match winless run, Celtic's away form and what PLZ Predictor members expect from Sunday's lunchtime game at Easter Road.
By Harvey Watkins,
Hibernian go into Sunday's lunchtime meeting with Celtic at Easter Road without a win in five league matches. Four defeats and a draw is a poor return by any measure, but none of those four losses was by more than a single goal.
Hibernian's run in detail
The sequence began with a 2-1 defeat at St. Johnstone on 6 September, followed by a 1-0 home loss to Kilmarnock and a 1-1 draw with Aberdeen at Easter Road. October brought a 1-0 defeat at Dundee United and then, most recently, a 2-1 home loss to Falkirk.
Across those five matches Hibernian scored three goals and conceded seven. The bigger problem is at the attacking end. They have not scored more than once in any of the five, and they failed to score against Kilmarnock and Dundee United. Conceding one or two each time has kept games close, but that has not been enough when so little comes at the other end. Three of the five were at home, and those three returned a single point.
Celtic's form
Celtic have won four of their last five, scoring 13 and conceding three. The 7-1 win over Hearts on 18 October inflates that total, so it is worth setting aside when judging what a typical Celtic performance has looked like. Without it they scored six in four, which is steady rather than overwhelming.
Their away results are the better guide here. Celtic won all three of their recent away matches: 2-1 at St. Mirren, 2-0 at St. Johnstone and 2-0 at Motherwell. They kept two clean sheets in those three games, and none of the wins was by more than two goals. Their one defeat came at home, 1-0 to Rangers on 20 September.
The one shared opponent gives a small point of comparison. Hibernian lost 2-1 at St. Johnstone, and Celtic won 2-0 there three days later. One match each is thin evidence, but it points the same way as the rest of their recent results.
Weighing it up
On recent results, Celtic are clear favourites, and it is hard to argue otherwise. They have been scoring regularly, they have won on each of their recent trips and they come into this off a 7-1 win. Hibernian are winless and short of goals.
The case for a closer game rests on the margins. Hibernian have been beaten narrowly rather than heavily, and Celtic's away wins have been by one or two goals rather than routs. A tight afternoon is plausible. To take anything from it, though, Hibernian would probably need to score twice, and they have not done that once in this run. My view is a Celtic win, though I would not be confident about the margin.
What PLZ Predictor members expect
Thirty-two PLZ Soccer members have entered predictions for this match in the PLZ Predictor. Of those, 91 per cent have gone for a Celtic win, 9 per cent for a draw and none for a Hibernian win. The most popular scoreline is 1-3 to Celtic, picked by 11 of the 32. This shows what our members think. It is not a forecast and it is not evidence about either side.