I have only included the fixtures involving the top two. Celtic also have a trip to Inverness to fit into their schedule - it will probably be in the midweek after the derby or after the home game to Dundee Utd.
A few things stand out:-
Celtic have no post split Saturday games;
Of the last 5 rounds of games, the huns play before us 3 times - the other 2 occasions are when we play each other and the last day when the games kick-off at the same time;
We have 3 trips to Kilmarnock to balance up the fixtures to ensure we end up with 19 home and 19 away;
They have 3 home games against Dundee Utd for the same reason;
Overall, I’m glad we didn’t get sent to Motherwell for a third time given the state of their pitch and it was a possibility. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing that we’re at home on the final day or not. I had a thought that it might have been better to have Hearts away or something last and hope it’s won before then. There’s a danger that we could slip up prior to having that last home game and give them the advantage. Don’t really see why they have to play before us most of the time - that also gives them the opportunity to crank up the pressure on us by winning and seeing how we react. It could also backfire, of course. I don’t think the derby is going to be decisive either way - there’s potential slips up right to the end of the season.
Sunday 24 April
Rangers v Celtic - 1230
Saturday 30 April
Motherwell v Rangers - 1200
Sunday 1 May
Celtic v Dundee United - 1245
Saturday 7 May
Rangers v Hearts - 1215
Sunday 8 May
Kilmarnock v Celtic - 1245
Tuesday 10 May
Rangers v Dundee United - 1945
Wednesday 11 May
Hearts v Celtic - 1945
Sunday 15 May
Celtic v Motherwell - 1230
Kilmarnock v Rangers - 1230
Not a single game there where you’d say the result is a foregone conclusion. I expect both teams to continue to grind out results for the most part but I’d be astonished if more points weren’t dropped outside of the derby game.
Why is our home game against Dundee United on at 1245? Is it on tv? Same question applied to their home game against Hearts.
[quote=“Rocko, post: 578336”]Why is our home game against Dundee United on at 1245? Is it on tv? Same question applied to their home game against Hearts.
[/quote]
Both being televised. There’s scope to show a couple of non-derby home games for each team on TV under the terms of the TV deal.
I’m happy enough to get the derby out of the way next week the more I think about it. They’re not defending well at all recently and I wouldn’t want them having a home derby hanging over us for the whole run-in. Beat them and we have a cushion, lose and at least we have games to make it back and if we draw then they’re the ones trying to catch up. As we hold the advantage at the moment it’s favourable to get the big game out of the way first and if we’re still in front they’ll be hopefully dis-spirited a bit as a result.