Celtic will visit Fir Park for their next clash against Motherwell in the ninth gameweek of the Scottish Premiership. Celtic come off an away win against Aberdeen, which was their first in nine months and will be high on confidence to get back to back away wins. Motherwell lost 0-2 to Hearts in their previous game.
Celtic have been the most threatening team when it comes to scoring goals and have scored 19 goals so far in the Scottish Premiership. They have a very high overall xG of 20.59 and have an average xG of 2.44 per 90 minutes. The problem previously for Celtic in away games was that they were not able to capitalise on the chances they created, but they managed to sort out this problem in their previous game against Aberdeen.
Kyogo Furuhashi has impressed in his first season with Celtic and has been one of their best attackers in the league. Furuhashi has scored four goals so far in five appearances for Celtic. These four goals include a hat-trick that he scored against Dundee in his second appearance for the club. The striker has a high goal contribution per 90 minutes of 1.05 since he has only played five teams in the league for Celtic due to an injury that forced him out for almost a month. He also recently scored in their clash against Aberdeen. He has a total of 13 attempts on goal with eight shots on target, which indicates the striker has a high shot on target percentage and is effective with most of the efforts he takes on the opposition goal.
Motherwell are one of the best-performing sides in the Scottish Premiership now, sitting on fourth currently in the table and have won three of their last five matches. They have been playing impressive football under manager Graham Alexander and have a real chance to push for the Champions League qualification places.
Tony Watt has been the most impressive player for Motherwell in the season so far. He has scored four goals and is the third-highest joint scorer in the league. Watt has a very high overall xG of 4.190 and is a constant threat to the opposition defence in the penalty area. He has been really clinical in front of goal with a shot accuracy of 71%, forcing the keeper to make a save most of the time. The Scottish forward has been a real threat in the air as well scoring two goals from headers. His finishing has been really top-notch this season. The Celtic defence will have to watch out for him as he will be the main source of goals for Motherwell.
Celtic will be looking to close the gap between them and the other teams higher up the table. They have recently won an away game which will boost their morale and try to turn this season on its head to push for the Premiership title. Motherwell have been impressive as well and will prove to be a tough opponent for Celtic.
Predicted line-up for Motherwell
Liam Kelly, Nathan McGinley, Juhani Ojala, Bevis Mugabi, Stephen O’Donnell, Liam Grimshaw, Callum Slattery, Mark O’Hara, Kevin Van Veen, Tony Watt, Kaiyne Woolery.
Predicted line-up for Celtic
Joe Hart, Adam Montgomery, Carl Starfelt, Carter-Vickers, Tony Ralston, Nir Bitton, Callum McGregor, Jota, David Turnbull, Liel Abada, Kyogo Furuhashi.
