Celtic vs Roma predictions and betting tips – Nancy seeks first win

Wilfried Nancy’s debut in the Celtic dugout did not go to plan as his team lost 2-1 to Hearts in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.

The Hoops will now turn their attention back to the Europa League as Roma come to town.

Will Nancy get off the mark at Celtic Park on Thursday night, or will this be another dose of disappointment for the club’s new head coach?

• Back Roma to win – 11/10 with SBK
• Choose under 2.5 goals – 5/6 with 247Bet
• Lorenzo Pellegrini to score any time – 11/4 with Tote

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Celtic vs Roma predictions

It was all set up for Wilfried Nancy to get his Celtic tenure off to a winning start on Sunday.

During Martin O’Neill’s spell as caretaker manager, Celtic had slowly closed the gap on Heart of Midlothian at the top of the Scottish Premiership.

Following a 3-1 defeat at Tynecastle Park in late October, Celtic fell eight points behind Hearts after nine rounds of fixtures.

Over the next few weeks, however, Celtic gradually gained ground on the Edinburgh upstarts. By the time the duo met again at Parkhead at the weekend, they were level on points – and Celtic had a game in hand.

Enter Nancy. Appointed as the permanent successor to Brendan Rodgers last week, the former Columbus Crew head coach took charge of Celtic for the first time when Hearts came to town on Sunday. His new team were strong favourites to come out on top.

Hearts did not read the script. A 2-1 victory in Glasgow served as a timely reminder that they should not be written off in the title race. 

For Nancy, the result proved that there is still plenty of work to do to get Celtic back to the sort of peak levels they reached under Ange Postecoglou and Rodgers.

“The result was not what we wanted, but I think that we had a really good first half,” Nancy said afterwards. 

“We had opportunities to break and also to score goals. I think that we could have done better in terms of the last pass and the execution, but I really liked the way we unbalanced them to create chances.

“It was not easy for the players knowing that I came three days ago, but the mindset was spot on.”

Celtic will return to action in the Europa League on Thursday night. Roma will provide the opposition as the Hoops attempt to climb the table.

They sit 21st at present. A top-eight finish is not yet out of reach, but it probably would be if Celtic did not win here. Some fans will instead be looking nervously over their shoulder: dropping out of the top 24 would result in Celtic missing out on the play-offs.

Roma, for their part, are 15th, so they also need to have a strong end to the league phase in order to advance directly to the round of 16. 

Celtic vs Roma betting tips

Celtic welcome Roma to Parkhead on matchday six of the Europa League league phase.

More pain for Nancy

Roma have lost back-to-back games in Serie A, going down 1-0 to both Napoli and Cagliari. They have dropped down to fourth in the table as a consequence.

However, Roma have won their last two outings in the Europa League, and they will arrive at Celtic Park full of belief that they can collect all three points.

Nancy suggested after Sunday’s loss to Hearts that time on the training pitch is required to get his ideas across to the Celtic squad.

Yet that is a luxury he will not be afforded due to the hectic schedule, especially going into the festive period.

Roma are a more settled and cohesive side than Celtic, and that should work to their advantage on Thursday.

Back Roma to win at 11/10 with SBK

How many goals?

Roma boss Gian Piero Gasperini has long been renowned as an attack-minded, forward-thinking coach.

However, his current side are really struggling in the final third, as evidenced by their failure to score against either Napoli or Cagliari.

Despite sitting fourth in Serie A, the Giallorossi have only scored 15 goals. That is fewer than mid-table sides like Cremonese, Atalanta and Lazio.

With Celtic still finding their feet under Nancy, this promises to be a tight and low-scoring encounter.

Choose under 2.5 goals at 5/6 with 247Bet

Pellegrini to bag?

Gasperini does not seem to be convinced with either of his options at centre-forward. 

Evan Ferguson has struggled since joining Roma on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion, while Artem Dovbyk is not the type of centre-forward Gasperini usually likes.

Roma have therefore had to look elsewhere for goals, with attacking midfielders Matias Soule and Lorenzo Pellegrini their main outlets.

Those two players have contributed eight strikes between them, including one each in a 2-0 victory over Rangers in November.

Pellegrini is our pick to make the net bulge against Celtic at Parkhead.

Lorenzo Pellegrini to score any time at 11/4 with Tote

Celtic vs Roma predicted lineups

• Celtic expected lineup: Schmeichel; Trusty, Scales, Tierney; Yang, McGregor, Engels, Tounekti; Nygren, Hatate; Maeda.
• Roma expected lineup: Svilar; Ghilardi, Mancini, Ndicka; Celik, Kone, El Aynaoui, Tsimikas; Soule, Pellegrini; Dybala.

Where to watch Celtic vs Roma

• Location: Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland.
• Date and time: Thursday 11th December, 8pm.
• How to watch: TNT Sports 3.

More Europa League predictions

We have plenty more Europa League predictions and picks – find our latest betting tips from expert punters in our match preview overview.

About the author

Greg Lea

Greg Lea is a freelance football writer from London. He predominantly covers the Premier League and has had work published by the Guardian, FourFourTwo, ESPN and others.

Follow Greg on X: @GregLeaFootball

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