Celtic are currently placed second in the 2021-22 Scottish Premiership standings after earning 26 points from their 13 matches. They are four points behind leaders and bitter rivals Rangers and will be hoping to catch up and stake their claim on the title. The Celts have been unbeaten for eight games in all competitions and six games in the league, having won four of their last five games. They have the best defensive record in the league, having conceded just nine goals in their 13 games. In addition, they also have the most goals with 30, just one more than rivals Rangers. With the most goals scored and least conceded, Celtic will feel unlucky not to be at the top of the table. In this post, we will have a look at the defensive stats of Celtic as a team as well as the defensive dashboards of their regularly used defenders, including centre-backs Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt and full-backs Anthony Ralston and Josip Juranovic.
The above viz shows the xGA (expected goals against) and xGA per 90 values for all the teams in the Scottish Premiership. A lower xGA indicates a better defense as it means that the team are conceding fewer opportunities on their goal. Celtic have the least xGA in all of the Premiership and have conceded the least goals and shots on goal. They have proven to be the best defense in the division and will hope to continue with the same defensive form.
The above viz shows the defensive dashboard for centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers in the Scottish Premiership this season. The black line in the viz depicts the average value for the particular stat for all players in the division. It is visible that the American defender is much better than the average in most of the stats and has been one of the best defenders, and has also scored twice for Celtic this season.
The above viz is the defensive dashboard for Carl Starfelt, the Swedish centre-back, who was signed by Celtic from Rubin Kazan in the summer transfer window. He has also been brilliant alongside Carter-Vickers and has formed a formidable partnership with him at the back. He has been injured for the last two games and has been replaced by Stephen Welsh. Without him, the defense hasn’t been the same as Celtic have conceded two goals each in their last two games.
Anthony Ralston has been one of the best attacking-full-backs in the Premiership. His defensive dashboard above shows that he has been an average defender for The Celts, but going forward, has been instrumental as he has scored thrice and assisted four goals so far this season. These are the greatest attacking stats produced by any full-back in the Scottish Premiership at the moment. His partnership with Carter-Vickers on the right side of defence has been working well for the team.
Josip Juranovic has played eight games for the Celts this season, while Montgomery has played the other five. He has been a decent defender for them, but his stats show that he has been below average defensively. In this strong back-four defensive line of Celtic, Juranovic can be considered as a weak link. Still, they have the best defensive record in the division along with the most goals, and will be hoping that luck favors them and they can catch up on rivals Rangers in the coming weeks.
