Probabilities for the match are Celtic 81%, Ross County 5% and 14% for the draw.
Livingston v Ross County
In their last league game against Livingston Ross County lost 2-1 and the xG was 1.29 to 0.66 in Ross County’s favour.
Ross County lined up in a 3-4-1-2 formation;
1 Ross Laidlaw
2 Connor Randall, 15 Keith Watson and 6 Alex Iacovitti
29 Gwion Edwards, 42 Nohan Kenneh, 14 Viktor Loturi and 16 George Harmon
11 Josh Sims
26 Jordan White and 27 Eamonn Brophy
Ross Callachan, Simon Murray, Dylan Smith, David Cancola and Alex Samuel came on as subs and Ross Munro, Dominic Samuel and Josh Stones were unused subs.
7 of the starting line up started in the game against Celtic in November while only 3 of them started in the corresponding fixture in Dingwall in August.
Ross County v Celtic
In the corresponding fixture in August Celtic won 3-1 with 2.25 xPts and 1.74 xG v 0.39 xG for Ross County. Celtic leading from the 48th minute to the 58th minute and then again from the 84th.
Kyogo, Jenz and Abada scored Celtic’s goals from xG totals of 0.52, 0.11 and 0.07 Iacovitti scored for Ross County from an xG total of 0.22.
Celtic also won in Dingwall at the end of August in the League Cup. Winning 4-1 with Iacovitti scoring in that game too. McGregor, Giakoumakis, Maeda and Forrest scored for Celtic.
Celtic v Ross County
In the reverse fixture in November Celtic won 2-1 with 2.1 xPts and 1.88 xG v 0.84 xG for Ross County. Celtic leading from 68 minutes after being behind from 50 minutes to 62 minutes.
Turnbull scored one and Haksabanovic scored one from 0.36 and 0.06 xG respectively while Ross County’s goal came from a penalty and Cancola’s xG was 0.79 (just from that penalty).
Ross County Players
Brophy is their best player for xG per 90 on 0.39 which is 14th in the SPFL and he has 0.41 actual goals per 90. He is also their best player for xA per 90 at 0.17 which is 25th in the league. His assists per 90 are 0.6.
Expected line up;
Goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw has played 117 games for Ross County
Right centre back Connor Randall has had 8 appearances for Liverpool
Centre back Watson has 133 appearances and 3 goals for Ross County
Left centre back Alex Iacovitti has 109 appearances and 11 goals
Right wing back Edwards is on loan from Wigan
Central midfielder Kenneh is on loan from Hibernian and has had caps for England under 17’s
Central midfielder Loturi was signed from the Canadian league
Left wing back Harmon came through the youth academy at West Brom
Sims also played for England under 17’s and he had spells with Southampton and New York Red Bulls
Striker White has scored 17 goals in his 88 appearances
Striker Brophy is on loan from St Mirren
Prediction
Ross County have scored in all 3 games against Celtic this season and therefore we can expect them to score again. However a Kyogo hat-trick and one from Jota will see Celtic finish the game 4-1 winners.
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