- 1 Falkirk vs Celtic: Duran’s scoring run meets a side with back-to-back clean sheets
- 2 Falkirk: six goals in three games after seven in their first eight
- 3 Celtic: five away wins out of five, but a goal conceded in each of the last three
- 4 Free Football Prediction: Falkirk vs Celtic
- 5 About our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About visuals
Falkirk vs Celtic: Duran’s scoring run meets a side with back-to-back clean sheets 
Camilo Duran has scored in four straight league matches for Celtic. He also scored twice when these sides met at Celtic Park on 29 August, a 2-1 Celtic win that was harder work than the champions would have liked.
The rematch is at the Falkirk Stadium on Sunday 1 November, kick-off 13:00 UK time, live on Sky Sports Main Event in the UK. Celtic lead the Scottish Premiership with 28 points from 11 games, and Falkirk are sixth on 15.
The context makes this one bigger for Martin O’Neill than the gap suggests. Celtic’s closest pursuers are tied up in the League Cup semi-finals this weekend, so a win would put them seven points clear at the top.
They come into it off a 2-2 home draw with Dundee United on Wednesday, and they’ve conceded in each of their last three league games. In all competitions the last nine matches have brought three wins, a draw and five defeats, including an early exit from the League Cup and three straight Europa League defeats.
John McGlynn’s side have gone the other way, with three wins in a row: 2-1 at Hibernian, 3-0 at home to Kilmarnock and 1-0 at Pittodrie on Wednesday, where Ben Krauhaus scored the winner.
Celtic have won the last ten meetings, going back to 2010, and Falkirk’s last win in this fixture came in 2007. The referee is Nicolson, who has taken charge of four Celtic games across this season and last and seen Celtic win all four.
Falkirk: six goals in three games after seven in their first eight 
Falkirk’s first eight league games produced six points: one win, three draws and four defeats, with seven goals scored. They’ve taken nine points and scored six in the three games since.
Falkirk have conceded 12 league goals, and only Celtic and Rangers have a better record. The wins over Kilmarnock and at Aberdeen were back-to-back clean sheets.
Home form is where the run hasn’t reached yet. Falkirk are ninth in the home table, with two wins and three defeats, and the same referee was in charge when St Mirren won 2-0 at the Falkirk Stadium at the start of the season.
Jacob Murrell leads the line. His header against Kilmarnock, off the underside of the bar from a Ryan Strain corner, was his fifth league goal of the season, and set-pieces did most of the damage in that 3-0.
I’d still give McGlynn credit for a side that has found a shape. Krauhaus and Spencer sit in front of the back four, Barbrook plays behind Murrell, and Ross and Eames give width.
Aodhan Doherty, Joseph Gardner, Ethan Laidlaw, Keelan Adams and Aidan Nesbitt are all out injured, and left-back Leon McCann is a doubt, so Tanser is the likely starter on that side.
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Celtic: five away wins out of five, but a goal conceded in each of the last three 
Celtic have won all five of their away league games this season. On the road the leaders have been far more reliable than at Celtic Park, where Rangers won 1-0 and Dundee United left with a point on Wednesday.
The last six league games read 1-0 at St Johnstone, a 1-0 home defeat to Rangers, 2-0 at Motherwell, 7-1 at home to Hearts, 2-1 at Hibernian and Wednesday’s 2-2 with Dundee United. Thirteen points from 18, and both dropped results came at Celtic Park.
Their league numbers are still the best in the division: 27 goals scored and eight conceded in 11 games. The 7-1 against Hearts accounts for a fair slice of the first figure.
In the Europa League Celtic lost 4-1 at Benfica and 2-1 at home to Celta Vigo, part of three straight defeats in the competition. O’Neill, interim boss for much of last season before being given the job permanently, has also seen his side knocked out of the League Cup.
Duran’s four league games in a row with a goal, plus two of Celtic’s three goals against Falkirk this season, make him the obvious threat to a defence that has just gone 180 minutes without conceding.
Alistair Johnston and Yang Hyun-Jun remain out with long-term injuries. Tierney is set to start at left-back, with McGregor and Baur in midfield behind Duran, Nygren and Osmand.
Probable lineup Falkirk: Bain; Strain, Neilson, Henderson, Tanser; Krauhaus, Spencer; Ross, Barbrook, Eames; Murrell
Probable lineup Celtic: Johnstone; Donovan, Murray, Scales, Tierney; McGregor, Baur; Duran, Nygren, Osmand; Hogh
Free Football Prediction: Falkirk vs Celtic
Our prediction: Celtic win and both teams to score
Celtic have beaten Falkirk ten times in a row and won all five league away games this season. A seven-point lead is on offer while Rangers and the others are at Hampden, and I’d expect O’Neill to get the result.
A Celtic clean sheet is harder to back: they’ve conceded in each of their last three league games, and Falkirk have scored six in their last three. The August meeting at Celtic Park finished 2-1, with Falkirk scoring.
Falkirk’s two straight clean sheets came against Kilmarnock, the league’s leakiest side, and an Aberdeen team with a semi-final on its mind. Celtic’s attack, with Duran scoring every week, is a different level, so the pick is an away win with goals at both ends.
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