In what will be just the second Old Firm meeting in four years, Rangers face Celtic at Hampden Park for a place in the Scottish Cup final.
The bookies are in little doubt about who’s going to win, installing the Bhoys as 67/100 favourites, with their Glaswegian nemeses pushed all the way out to 4/1 ahead of a 3/1-rated draw.
But the sky-high price attributed to Mark Warburton’s men has given the speculative punter a chance to widen their wallet by a few inches this afternoon, as a Gers win is not as out of the question as the odds masters will have you believe.
Here are three reasons why the underdogs will prevail in 90 minutes:
Rangers have defied the odds to beat their local foes in recent meetings.
In the 2011/12 campaign – the Light Blues’ last in the Scottish Premiership – the Ibrox outfit twice beat Celtic, despite the financial fingers that eventually flung them down the divisions squeezing tightly at their throats.
Rangers’ finishing 20 points adrift of the Bhoys that season emphasises the gulf in class then probably isn’t much greater than it is today, increasing the relevance of their 3-2 and 4-2 victories ahead of their forthcoming fixture.
Celtic have already slipped up in one domestic competition against huge underdogs.
Prior to their Scottish League Cup semi-final, Ronny Deila’s troops had never lost to Ross County and duly assumed a similarly short price ahead of their last-four face off.
Despite the obvious inferiority and universal expectations for them to succumb to the overlords, County cruised to a 3-1 win.
It wasn’t the first time Deila’s Bhoys had been floored by an underdog either, with Inverness knocking them out of the FA Cup at this stage last season.
Form favours the Gers.
Celtic have failed to win half of their last eight outings away from Parkhead and haven’t scored more than two goals in any of these games.
Their next opponents have prevailed in five road games across the same period, scoring a total of 18 goals in the process.
They may have achieved these numbers against lower calibre opposition, but stringing together the wins in the run up to this one will ensure Rangers are confident of overcoming their much-fancied foes at Hampden.
