Kilmarnock to beat Celtic today at Rugby Park (7/1-ish).
Celtic were in steamrolling form from after the January break until being steamrolled themselves on Thursday by Valencia. Celtic is a team that, domestically, thrives on confidence and they are simply far superior to everyone else up here but they have their frailties. One of them is the type of synthetic surface they have to play on at Killie, Livingston and Hamilton.
Rodgers tends not to risk players like Simunovic, Benkovic and Ajer on these surfaces. Benkovic is out injured anyway but it will probably be another makeshift defensive set-up, which isn't good. Brown has been in commanding form in deep midfield since the break but reverted to type the other night, playing much more negatively and when he does that the whole team loses form. If he does it again today I expect Killie to get several shots on goal, something Celtic aren't used to facing domestically.
I think it's still the case that in all league games since Stevie Clarke took over at Killie they have amassed more points than any other side including Celtic who tend not to play too well at Rugby Park anyway. There's also a chance that Celtic's motivation levels will be slightly down after both Aberdeen and the Ibrox side dropped points at home yesterday.
Obviously I want to see the Hoops rattle in five or six and stretch their lead and goal difference at the top of the table but I have huge respect for what Stevie Clarke is doing in deepest Ayrshire.
