Celtic will travel to St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday afternoon looking for their 10th successive away victory at McDiarmid Park.

The hosts, meanwhile, have picked up 11 points from their last six league matches and have lost just one of their last nine games in all competitions.

Match preview

Celtic manager Neil Lennon pictured on January 2, 2021 © Reuters

Celtic made up for their disappointing loss to St Mirren last month as they convincingly beat them 4-0 away from home on Wednesday.

The Hoops took a narrow lead into half time thanks to a strike from Tom Rogic, before three goals in four minutes from Odsonne Edouard, Ryan Christie and David Turnbull confirmed a comfortable victory in Paisley.

Manager Neil Lennon heaped praise on his side's "brilliant" second-half performance and suggested that they looked more like the team from last year.

The Hoops have won all three of their matches in February and head to St Johnstone having beaten their last two away opponents by a 4-0 scoreline.

Celtic have an impressive record against the Saints and prior to their 1-1 draw in December, they had won eight consecutive matches by an aggregate score of 29-0.

Securing three points on the road once again this weekend would see Lennon's men consolidate second place and claim their fourth league victory in a row for the first time since December.

Callum Davidson pictured in 2018 © Reuters

After failing to triumph away from home in the Scottish Premiership since mid-October, St Johnstone have won back-to-back games on the road against Kilmarnock and most recently at high-flying Livingston last weekend.

A stunning free-kick from Scott Tanser and a clinical header from Shaun Rooney helped the Saints claim all three points against the Lions and ended the home side's 14-match unbeaten run.

Head coach Callum Davidson was pleased with his team's seventh league victory of the campaign but stated that the result against Livingston will have no bearing when the two sides face each other once again in the Scottish League Cup final later this month.

The Saints have just two league games to play before they head to Hampden Park and will hope to go into the final off the back of two positive results, starting with Sunday's home encounter with the Hoops.

St Johnstone have found it very difficult against Celtic in recent years, failing to win any of their last 17 meetings, losing 14 of those matches and scoring just seven goals in the process.

Ending the miserable run with a win on Sunday could see the Saints climb to sixth in the table, 10 points clear of the bottom two.

St Johnstone Scottish Premiership form: DWDWLW
St Johnstone form (all competitions): WWDWLW

Celtic Scottish Premiership form: DWLWWW

Team News

Celtic players celebrate Shane Duffy's goal against Ross County on September 12, 2020 © Reuters

Midfielder Murray Davidson, who limped off in the defeat to Rangers, is the only injury concern for St Johnstone at present.

Striker Stevie May, who missed a penalty after coming on as a substitute against Livingston, may have to settle for a place on the bench once again this weekend, with Chris Kane likely to start up front.

Celtic pair Christopher Jullien (knee) and James Forrest (ankle) remain out through injury, although the latter could be back in training before the end of the month.

Lennon named an unchanged Celtic side after their 2-1 home victory over Motherwell at Parkhead and following the impressive win at St Mirren, the Hoops boss may keep the same eleven in his starting lineup for the third successive game.

Christie dropped out of the squad that faced Motherwell after rolling his ankle against Kilmarnock earlier this month but is now in contention to start ahead of Australian midfielder Rogic.

St Johnstone possible starting lineup:
Clark; Kerr, Gordon, McCart; Rooney, Craig, McCann, Tanser; Melamed, Wotherspoon; Kane

Celtic possible starting lineup:
Bain; Kenny, Welsh, Ajer, Taylor; Brown; McGregor, Turnbull; Rogic; Ajeti, Edouard

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We say: St Johnstone 1-3 Celtic

St Johnstone will take confidence from December's 1-1 draw with Celtic heading into Sunday's clash and will be looking to build on their recent good run of form.

However, the Hoops have scored the most away goals in the league so far this campaign and after finding their form in front of goal this month, we can see the visitors claiming all three points at McDiarmid Park once again.

Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Celtic win with a probability of 65.44%. A draw had a probability of 21.1% and a win for St Johnstone had a probability of 13.42%.

The most likely scoreline for a Celtic win was 0-1 with a probability of 13.72%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (13.09%) and 1-2 (9.48%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.94%), while for a St Johnstone win it was 1-0 (5.21%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 9.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Celtic would win this match.