It’s an old cliché in Scottish football that form says nothing about how this particular match will go. If that’s true for the league fixtures between these two giants of Scottish football – and it is – then it’s doubly true for this Cup match at Ibrox Park between Rangers and Celtic, scheduled for Sunday 6 February.

Just for the record though, Rangers recent form is win 4, lose 1, their loss was a 1-0 setback at Hearts. Celtic come into the game with 5 wins in a row, 3 of which, unbelievably, have been against the same team: Aberdeen (2 SPL games and a CIS Cup semi-final).

If we are looking for indicators for a winner, and recent form is not going to help, then we should look elsewhere. Personnel could be the main factor, and it is Rangers’ threadbare playing staff that is in crisis at the moment, while everything seems sweet and light at Celtic with high-quality competition for every position in the team.

Rangers recently completed the signing of Senegalese internationalist El Hadji Diouf, a figure of hatred for Celtic fans due to a horrific incident in 2003 when Diouf, then a Liverpool player, spat on Celtic fans in a Cup tie. UEFA at Celtic Park. It could be that the memory of that incident alone is enough to carry Celtic to victory.

This game is easily the toughest test for Rangers since top scorer Kenny Miller’s loss last week to Turkish side Bursapor. They will surely have a hard time scoring without him against a confident and well organized Celtic defence.

Prediction:- Rangers 0 – 2 Celtic