Celtic meet Motherwell in the 2018 Scottish Cup Final at Hampden Park as the Bhoys seek a second consecutive domestic treble.
This is the second cup final this season to be contested by these sides, Celtic winning 2-0 in November’s Scottish League Cup Final.
Six months later and Motherwell enter this game looking to avoid double cup final heartbreak, so can they produce one of the Scottish Cup’s biggest cupsets in recent memory?
Team news
Celtic will have goalkeeper, Craig Gordon back after the Scot sat out their last three games with a knee issue.
Brendan Rodgers however will be without the cup-tied defender, Jack Hendry.
Odsonne Edourard (hamstring), Nir Bitton (knee) and Johnny Hayes (leg) are all sidelined.
Motherwell meanwhile have injury concerns to worry about ahead of the big match.
Defender, Peter Hartley resumed training after recovering from a foot injury sustained in December but is unlikely to be risked.
Midfielder, Andy Rose has recovered from a collarbone injury but is now doubtful with a calf strain.
Rose therefore joins James Scott (toe), in potentially missing out on a place in the squad.
George Newell (cheekbone), Craig Tanner (knee) and Ellis Plummer (leg) are all definitely ruled out of this game.
On-loan striker, Nadir Ciftci is ineligble to face his parent club.
Form
Since beating Rangers in the Semi-Finals, Celtic have lost two of their last five games with just two clean sheets.
Those shutouts came at home against the Gers and Kilmarnock respectively.
Motherwell meanwhile have been in good form, winning three and drawing one of their last five.
The Steelmen have also scored seven goals in their last four, with Ryan Bowman scoring three of those goals.
Stat Attack
- Celtic are unbeaten in last ten meetings with Motherwell across all competitions (W8 D2).
- The Hoops have won all four previous Scottish Cup Final meetings 11-4 on aggregate. Their very first clash in the final of this competition finished 2-2 in 1931 with Celtic winning the replay 4-2.
- Motherwell have seen red in two of last four meetings, including here in November’s Scottish League Cup Final.
- This fixture in the past decade has seen 10 red cards dished out with Motherwell collecting eight of those cards to Celtic’s two.
- In four meetings this season across league and cup, Celtic’s two wins have come in Glasgow – at home and in League Cup Final here whilst drew both games at Fir Park.
Prediction
Motherwell certainly are going to have to go out there and use the League Cup Final defeat as extra motivation here by constantly attacking.
Celtic meanwhile has been leaky at the back lately but the lure of back to back domestic trebles will be enough to make them produce a strong performance here.
I am going to go for both teams scoring but Celtic to edge it.
Prediction: Celtic 2-1 Motherwell
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