Celtic vs Wolverhampton Wanderers

Celtic and Wolverhampton Wanderers are set to trade tackles at the Aviva Stadium in a first summer friendly in over a decade.

After winning back-to-back Scottish Premiership titles, decorated manager Ange Postecoglou left Celtic at the end of last season to take charge of Tottenham Hotspur. New boss Brendan Rodgers has returned to Parkhead after failing to keep Leicester City in the Premier League. Except for a goal-glutted 6-4 at the hands of defending J1 League champions Yokohama F. Marinos a fortnight ago, Rodgers has enjoyed an almost-flawless pre-season at his second stint at Celtic, with the ‘Hoops’ going unbeaten in all three remaining summer friendly (W2, D1). That may inspire their bid to avenge a 2-0 defeat in their only previous meeting with Wolverhampton in 2011.

Meanwhile, Wolverhampton Wanderers have racked up a brace of one-goal margin wins over Portuguese sides Porto and Vitoria Guimaraes to get their pre-season off to a perfect start. Interestingly, all four goals in those matches came before halftime, suggesting an action-packed first half could be on the cards. Wolves’ pre-season form is in stark contrast to their showings toward the end of last season as they capped off an underwhelming 2022/23 Premier League campaign with a three-game winless run (D1, L2). Interestingly, six of Wolverhampton’s last seven matches won/lost have seen the winner on the day keep a clean sheet, highlighting the significance of the opening goal.