Celtic vs Rangers Prediction: Celtic to get secure second title of the season

Hampden Park will be the venue for this Scottish Cup final encounter between Celtic and Rangers. These two teams are the strongest in the Scottish Premiership this season, but Celtic claimed the league title. Can Rangers complement their league miss with this?

Celtic are on a run of six consecutive victories into this game, and the league winners will hope to keep that momentum in this final. In their last league game, Celtic took on a St. Mirren side and ended up winning 3-2. In that game, Celtic had to come from behind, with Mark O'Hara putting the visiting Mirren ahead in each case. However, an 86th-minute strike by Luis Palma was enough to complement Matt O'Riley and Kyogo Furuhashi's equalizers, good to see the champions finish the season with a victory. However, this team's semifinal game was against Aberdeen, and they needed a Joe Hart penalty save to send themselves into this final, with the match ending 3-3 at regular time.

Rangers could only finish their season with a 3-3 draw against Hearts, as they were greatly disappointing in the final minutes of that game. Being behind 1-0 at halftime, Rangers showed character in the early minutes of the second half, with Ross McCausland, Todd Cantwell, and Fabio Silva registering their name on the scoreboard. However, this team failed to step up in the final minutes as their poor defensive performance saw them concede in the 82nd and 95th minutes of additional time. However, Ranger's last match in the Scottish Cup was against the same Hearts, but they secured an easy 2-0 win, with Cyriel Dessers being the hero of the day, bagging two goals. Rangers come into this game with one defeat in their last seven games, winning four and drawing two others. 

In their last meeting, Celtic secured a 2-1 win in the league’s championship group encounter. However, Celtic have most wins in their last matches, 4 in their last six, with one for Rangers while one other ended in a 3-3 draw.

Celtic have the record for most wins in this competition and will come into this game as favorites. On the other hand, Rangers are expected to be strong after back-to-back inconsistent plays. Regardless, Rangers are just way below this in-form Celtic side, and while I tip both teams to approach this game with strong offensive plays, the hosts are expected to clinch this trophy.