Rangers v Celtic FC Women – Team News, Manager’s View, Where to Watch

It’s an incredibly important day in the title race this as Celtic FC Women take on theRangers in what is widely regarded as a winner takes all title shoot-out. With four games left to play, this clash looks set to determine the eventual winners of the Scottish Women’s Premier League.

A loss today will mean Celtic will be fighting an uphill battle as we’d have to rely on our rivals losing in one of their games. A victory is, of course, the result that we’ll be searching for at Broadwood, but a draw would also favour us thanks to our significant goal difference.

Glasgow City could only draw with Hibs yesterday (2-2) while they desperately needed a victory to retain even a slight hope of retaining their title. Here’s how the table stands ahead of the Glasgow Derby match today…

This game is likely to have goals in it if both teams do the opposite of what they did at Hampden and move up the park. In the semi-final of the Women’s Scottish Cup, it seemed as though both teams were scared to lose, so hopefully we’ll have learned our lesson and force the issue to go a very long way to delivering a first ever Women’s league title for Celtic Football Club.

In the SWPL this season, both Celtic FC Women and theRangers have an overall win percentage of 82%. Recent league form favours us thanks to their loss against Hearts back in April. Percentages above courtesy of FootyStats. In the split Celtic have dropped two points, in the 2-2 draw against Glasgow City last midweek, while theRangers have dropped six points, losing 2-1 to Celtic and 1-0 to Hearts.

Celtic Team News

Both Hana Kerner and Luana Muñoz were on grass in training, but they likely won’t be available for this game. The usual players will all be available, apart from Kit Loferski, who Elena Sadiku confirmed to The Celtic Star is out with a foot injury. That means that the Celtic front three will be Amy Gallacher, Tash Flint and  Murphy Agnew.

Celtic Manager’s View

Elena Sadiku spoke to the media, including The Celtic Star, prior to the biggest Glasgow derby of the season. She said: “I think the most important is still believing in what we do and what we have been doing well because that’s the reason why we’re in the position that we are. And that’s something that the confidence needs to still build on is what we’ve done so far has been working because it has put us into a position where we are right now and that’s something that the only focus should be on is what we are doing and what we have done that has taken us so far.

“I think the most important is focusing on what we can do now because that’s the only thing that we can control. Obviously, the Champions League spot is something that we really really want because we know that it’s important for us as a club. So whatever opens, opens but I try to not think too much about it because there’s one game at one time and that’s something that we can control.”

You can read everything Elena said to The Celtic Star HERE.

Celtic Player’s View

Experienced midfielder Natalie Ross also previewed the clash with the media. The Celtic Star were in attendance. Natalie said: “We know that we need to win every game and we just focus game by game so no. Obviously, we wanted to win (against Glasgow City) but I think the performance that we put in after the disappointment on Saturday [at Hampden]was really important for us. So we bounced back, still a great team spirit, we’re ready to go for [today].

“I think every game until the end of the season is going to be like a cup final. Like I say, every game’s important, we can’t underestimate any team. Four games left, we need to win every game. So like I said, we focus on every game and at the end, if we win the league, great, but again, we just need to focus on each game in hand and (the)Rangers is our next game.

“We’re going out to win the game [today]. We can’t lose the game but our main focus is to win the game. We’re not going to sit back and try and get a draw, we need to win that, we want to win that game, so we’ll be going to win that game.”

Match Officials

Stewart Luke is the referee for theRangers vs Celtic FC Women this lunchtime. He will be assisted by Ross Anderson and James McCluskey. Yaser Razouk is the fourth official. No VAR in operation but the Sky cameras will be there to examine any ‘honest mistakes’.

Kick-off Time

This Glasgow derby kicks off at 12:00 at Broadwood Stadium, Cumbernauld. The Celtic tickets were sold last week and there is no pay at the gate but the game is live on Sky Sports.

Where to Watch

You can watch this game live on Sky Sports. Tickets for away fans are no longer available to purchase and if you don’t have a Sky subscription, you can keep up to date via social media (Celtic’s Twitter/X page is usually best). theRangers manager Jo Potter last week criticised Celtic for doing a Huddle before the game at Hampden (where has she been?) so watch what happens just before noon today.

Predicted Score 

A draw would be fine but a victory would be massive for Celtic FC Women and the players are certainly going to be up for it today.  Expecting to see Celtic coming away with something today and a 2-1 win would be more than brilliant!

COYGIG!