Celtic travel to Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday hoping to win their sixth away match of the campaign and maintain their unbeaten league record on the road.
Meanwhile, Hibs have the chance to move within two points of their opponents and climb to third in the league table.
Match preview
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Hibernian have lacked consistency during the last month after winning, losing and drawing twice each in their last six encounters.
Jack Ross's side are yet to lose successive league matches this season, but after suffering a 2-0 away defeat to Aberdeen last time out, they will need to perform well against the current league champions if they are to pick up any points on Saturday.
Hibs do have a good record against Celtic when playing at Easter Road, having only lost one of their last eight home league games – winning three and drawing the other four – and are unbeaten in five home matches against the Hoops since a 4-0 defeat in January 2014.
A victory on Saturday would see Hibernian win back-to-back league games for the first time since October 2018, when they were managed by now-Celtic boss Neil Lennon.
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Celtic bounced back from a dreadful 4-1 defeat in the Europa League to Sparta Prague earlier this month by beating Motherwell by the same scoreline, as Mohammed Elyounoussi's hat-trick helped the Hoops win their ninth league match of the campaign.
The Glasgow side's impressive away record in the league continues, which has seen Neil Lennon's men go unbeaten in 17 matches – winning 14 and drawing the other three. Their last defeat on the road was a 2-0 loss at Livingston in October 2019.
The Hoops also have a decent record against this weekend's hosts, having kept a clean sheet in four of their last five league meetings – winning their last two in a row, including the 3-0 win at the end of September.
Celtic are likely to make a few changes to their starting lineup – only Rangers (35) have made more lineup changes across Scottish Premiership matches this season than the Hoops (33), while Hibernian have made a league-low 15 changes to their starting lineups this term.
A win on Saturday would see Celtic move within six points of rivals Rangers at the top of the table, with Lennon's side having two games in hand after the Gers play on Sunday.
Hibernian Scottish Premiership form: DLWDWL
Hibernian form (all competitions): WDWLLW
Celtic Scottish Premiership form: WWWLDW
Celtic form (all competitions): LDDWLW
Team News
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Hibernian's Scott Allan (health issue), Lewis Stevenson (ankle) and Kyle Magennis (hamstring) all remain out of contention for the home side.
Central defender Paul Hanlon and midfielder Joe Newell – both one booking away from suspension – are likely keep their places in the starting lineup.
Kevin Nisbet, who scored his ninth goal in all competitions against Dundee in the Scottish League Cup on Sunday, is set to remain up front alongside Christian Doidge.
Celtic's Christopher Jullien (back), Mikey Johnston (knee) and James Forrest (ankle) are all ruled out with injuries.
Olivier Ntcham, who came off the bench to score Celtic's fourth goal against Motherwell, could start and replace Tom Rogic in midfield.
Odsonne Edouard could be recalled to the starting XI and replace Albian Ajeti in attack.
Hibernian possible starting lineup:
Marciano; McGinn, Porteous, Hanlon, Doig; Boyle, Gogic, Newell, Murphy; Nisbet, Doidge
Celtic possible starting lineup:
Bain; Frimpong, Duffy, Ajer, Laxalt; Brown, McGregor, Ntcham; Christie, Elyounoussi, Edouard
We say: Hibernian 1-3 Celtic
With Hibernian struggling to find consistency and with Celtic getting back to full strength, the visitors have the firepower to cause problems for the home side, as they aim the close to gap on Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
Top betting tip
Oliver Thomas
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Celtic win with a probability of 57.66%. A draw had a probability of 22.1% and a win for Hibernian had a probability of 20.27%.
The most likely scoreline for a Celtic win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.96%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.93%) and 0-2 (9.52%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.38%), while for a Hibernian win it was 1-0 (5.43%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 5.2% likelihood.
