Today's Pointers - 20h Feb

The old firm Derby is back again, and it promises to be another thriller. The meeting on Sunday is the second at Parkhead in the league this season with Rangers emerging as 3-1 victors back in October. But since then Celtic have held the edge, winning 2-0 at Ibrox and dominating for much of the 2-2 Cup draw at the same venue.

I’ve got plenty of concerns about backing CELTIC as short as evens but they seem to be showing a clear edge in attack, have home advantage, will be fresher than Rangers (who were poor against Sporting in midweek). I’d expect to see a red card too, a possibility which has been well documented by many and with Scott Brown and El-Hadji Diouf on the field, anything’s possible. UPDATE – Celtic have taken the lead, so back them should they concede next to Rangers.

In Spain, Barcelona will attempt to get “back on track” (If you could ever call it that) against ATHLETIC BILBAO but there’s reason to believe that things won’t be easy for Pep Guardiola’s side.

Last weekend Sporting Gijon were expected to give Barca a relatively straightforward match to extend their record-breaking streak in ,but instead they found themselves held to a 1-1 draw and then Arsenal pulled out a great performance in all areas (even allowing for Messi’s wrongly disallowed goal) to beat them 2-1 at the Emirates.

Athletic Bilbao have thrust themselves into Champions League contention over the course of the last month with a series of impressive results, winning 4 of their last 5, beating the very talented Athletico Madrid by 2 goals to nil.

In the recent Copa Del Rey clash they emerged unbeaten over the course of three hours with Barca squeezing through on away goals having been on the rack for long periods in the return leg at Bilbao, and all this points to a close game, with Barcelona having played as recently as Thursday.

There are odds of 15/8 being banded about for Bilbao with a 2 goal head start and that’s too big, along with 8/13 for a three goal head start, which is again too big.
And last but not least, BOLTON have been underestimated by bookmakers offering prices bout them with a one goal start, as they’ll surely be better than that against Fulham today even allowing for the fact Fulham are at Craven Cottage.

Advice

1 pt Celtic to beat Rangers in - play (aim to back should Rangers draw level )

2 pts Athletic Bilbao to beat Barcelona with a +2 goal start (15/8 Boylesports)

2 pts Atheltic Bilbao to beat Barcelona with a three goal start (8/13 VCBet)

1 pt Bolton to beat Fulham with a one goal start (5/6 Bet365)