Celtic's High-Stakes Clash with St. Mirren: Durán and Nygren Shine
Celtic travel to St. Mirren with numbers that look less like early-season form and more like a title statement.
At the heart of it, two forwards in full stride.
Camilo Durán has exploded into life in Glasgow: six goals in seven appearances in all competitions, three of them in his last two Scottish Premiership outings. He is averaging a goal every 97 minutes for Celtic. That is not just efficient. It is ruthless.
On the other flank of Celtic’s attack, Benjamin Nygren keeps bending games to his will. Five goal involvements in just four league matches – three goals, two assists – underline his influence. His record in the Premiership is strikingly consistent too: he has scored or assisted against 10 of the 11 sides he has faced in the division. The only club to shut him out so far? St. Mirren, across three matches.
That particular detail hangs over this fixture. Nygren has cut through almost everyone. St. Mirren have been the exception.
O’Neill’s Perfect Record and Celtic’s Relentless Pace
Martin O’Neill walks into this meeting with St. Mirren carrying a flawless personal record against them. Seven games as Celtic manager against the Paisley side in all competitions. Seven wins. An aggregate score of 16-2.
In the club’s long history, only three Celtic managers have built a longer perfect run against a single opponent:
- Jock Stein, 11 wins from 11 against Raith Rovers
- Brendan Rodgers, 9 from 9 against Hamilton Academical
- Ange Postecoglou, 8 from 8 against Ross County
O’Neill is in elite company, and he has the chance to tighten that grip further.
The form table backs him up. Celtic have strung together 11 straight league wins, including all four this season. Since the start of last season, O’Neill’s Celtic have taken 23 wins from 27 league matches, dropping points only four times (D2 L2). That return – 2.63 points per game – is the profile of a side that expects to be champions, not just contenders.
St. Mirren Rising, and History on the Home Side’s Shoulder
St. Mirren, though, are not turning up as cannon fodder.
They have won four of their last six league games, drawing the other two. That six-game burst already tops the win total from their previous 20 league matches combined, a run that yielded just three victories (W3 D4 L13). The trajectory is clear: this is a team climbing, not clinging on.
There is also a quirk of recent Premiership history that offers the home crowd a little extra belief. When the side starting the day second has hosted the league leaders, the team in second has taken three wins from the last five such fixtures (D1 L1). That is more victories than in the previous nine occasions combined (W2 D3 L4).
So the pattern is there. The chasing side, at home, with something to prove, has often landed the punch.
Durán is scoring at will. Nygren is tormenting almost everyone but St. Mirren. O’Neill has never slipped against this opponent. St. Mirren are in their best league form for months and stand second, staring up at the champions.
Something has to give.
