IT’S OFFICIAL – Celtic are the cleanest team in the Premiership.
The champions currently lead the top flight with a nine-point advantage in their quest for a second successive title.
And Ange Postecoglou’s players are also on course to be crowned the best sportsmen in the league.
There are only four games to go before the split and Hibs provide the first challenge at Parkhead on Saturday afternoon.
Next up it’s a third trip of the campaign to Dingwall to face Malky Mackay’s Ross County on Sunday April 2 with a midday kick-off.
SEEING RED? Pictures can be deceiving…it looks as though Celtic’s South Korean Oh Hyeon-gyu is being dismissed by referee David Dickinson, but (below) we can see it is the young Hoops striker who is on the receiving end as he is floored by St Johnstone defender Andy Considine, the recipient of the card.
The Hoops won 3-1 in the second league game of the season on August 6 and followed that up with a 4-1 victory in the League Cup later in the month on the way to their Hampden success on February 26.
Michael Beale’s Ibrox outfit are in the east end of Glasgow on Saturday April 8 for a 12.30pm start at the venue where they were thrashed 4-0 in September.
And the first phase of the Premiership comes to a half with a match against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Sunday April 16 with a noon commencement. The Hoops won 5-0 in Ayrshire on August 14.
Celtic will go into these encounters with the record of being Scotland’s most sporting team following the previous 28 games in the top division.
At the moment, the reigning title kings have had 42 players booked and two red-carded – Callum McGregor with a last-man challenge in the 2-1 home win over Motherwell on October 1 and David Turnbull for a so-called dangerous high boot in the 4-1 victory over St Johnstone at Parkhead on Christmas Eve.
Using statistics from Transfermarkt, this is how the Edinburgh News made the compilation in a table to rank the cleanest team to the dirtiest.
1: CELTIC: 42 pts (32 yellow, 2 red, 0 as result of two bookings)
2: Rangers: 62 pts (52 yellow, 2 red, 0 as result of two bookings)
3: Hibs: 63 pts (60 yellow, 1 red, 1 as result of two bookings)
4: Aberdeen: 64 pts (48 yellow, 4 red, 2 as result of two bookings)
5: Hearts: 65 pts (41 yellow, 6 red, 3 as result of two bookings)
6: Kilmarnock: 70 pts (52 yellow, 4 red, 1 as result of two bookings)
7: Dundee United: 70 pts (57 yellow, 3 red, 1 as result of two bookings)
8: Ross County: 74 pts (53 yellow, 5 red, 2 as result of two bookings)
9: Motherwell: 76 pts (66 yellow, 2 red, 0 as result of two bookings)
10: Livingston: 86 pts (55 yellow, 7 red, 2 as result of two bookings)
11: St Mirren: 89 pts (63 yellow, 6 red, 2 as result of two bookings)
12: St Johnstone: 90 pts (70 yellow, 4 red, 0 as result of two bookings)
