Celtic will travel down the M6 to the capital of Worcestershire on Saturday for a 3pm kick off with Worcester City. Worcester are currently thirteenth in the league, five places and four points behind Celtic on seventeen points.

Like ourselves, Worcester were recently well beaten by Hucknall Town, who put five past them before putting three past us. City?s last match, though, was a 1-1 draw away at Vauxhall (a team we put five past!). Their last home match was a 2-1 victory over Southport, a good result in anybody?s book. That was the only win in their six matches, with three draws and two losses. They have been fairly solid at home since their opening two home games saw them lose to Hyde and Kettering. They were the first team to takes points off Harrogate this season, when they held them to a 1-1 draw at St Georges Lane.

Our previous two meetings with Worcester have both been draws. Since our 1-0 defeat at home in the FA Trophy in 2000, we have met them six times, with our only win at their place coming at the end of the 2005/06 season, when we squeaked a 1-0 win after having two good goals ruled off, Lee Ellington scored the only allowed goal in stoppage time. Worcester?s last win at home against us was the season before in a game that could have gone either way, and would have ended in a draw but for a last minute penalty in Worcester?s favour.

Worcester?s top scorer this season is Emeka Nwadike, who has scored five goals, though all his goals have come away from home. In keeping with our experiences against Worcester, their most dangerous period is in the last five minutes of a match, and they have scored a quarter of their twenty goals this season in that period. Their most vulnerable period is the opening half hour, with nearly half of their conceding done in this period. The average first goal time is 45 minutes, whilst their first concession is 33 minutes. They are scoring an average of 1.3 goals per game at home (1.4 overall), and conceding 1.3 goals per game (1.7 overall). City have kept two clean sheets at home, and drew a blank in three games.

Worcester recently parted company with manager Andy Preece, installing John Barton in a caretaker role. The deadline for applications is the day we play them. They have the advantage of no players out suspended, though Adam Burley is a long term injury for them, and Danny McDonnell returned to their starting line up, after an injury, against Vauxhall. In the 1-1 draw away at Vauxhall, Worcester lined up as:
1. Danny McDonnell
2. Ryan Clarke
3. Jamie Price
4. Chris Smith
5. Patrece Liburd
6. Paul Barratt
7. Graham Ward
8. Emeka Nwadike
9. Craig Wilding
10. Adam Webster
11. George Clegg

Celtic will be without Mark Haran for the match, who has a one match suspension, following his red card against Hucknall. Andy Smart is the only major injury doubt, with Steve Payne playing over 45 minutes against Hucknall. In our 3-0 defeat at home to Hucknall, Celtic lined up as:
1. Paddy Gamble
2. Ashley Woolliscroft
3. Simon Garner
4. James Dudgeon
5. Mark Haran
6. Terry Barwick
7. Lee Ellington
8. Ashley Winn
9. Chris Hall
10. Matty Barlow
11. Carlos Roca

The automated prediction algorithm still has faith in Celtic, and given the relative form of the two teams has gone for a 3-1 win for Celtic. In order for that to come about, though, Celtic are going to have to overcome a goal drought that stretches 372 minutes since Matty Barlow?s first half goal against Redditch.