On Saturday, Celtic travel across Manchester to face Atherton Collieries. Atherton are currently fourteenth in the league on twenty-three points, four places and five points ahead of Celtic. Kick off 3pm.

We have had the same number of wins as Atherton, at five, but with eight draws, they are ahead of us. Nobody has had more draws than Atherton this season and only Gainsborough have equalled them. In Atherton’s last ten games, they have had six draws, two wins and two losses. Their last match, at home to Bamber Bridge, saw them lose 3-0. Atherton last won at home at the start of October when they beat Ashton. Since then, in the four games at home, they have drawn three and lost one. Their last win was their last away match, when they beat Marske 3-2, with two goals in stoppage time (both from former Celts, Scott Bakkor and Jay Fitzmartin). At home, they have won two, lost four and drawn three.

Eight of their seventeen goals have come at home, at a rate of 0.9 goals per game (a goal per game overall), with Scott Bakkor just edging their golden boot, with four. They have failed to score three times at home from seven overall. Two of their six clean sheets came at home, with their only home wins coming when the opposition do not score. They have conceded twenty in total, split equally between home and away at a rate of 1.1 goals per game.

So far in 2022, we’ve played Atherton twice, both last season. We won both games 1-0, with Raul Correia scoring both goals. Those were out first wins over Atherton, with the Colls winning our first three encounters starting in 2019. Our last visit there in 2020 saw us draw 1-1, with Will Goodwin equalising. Our previous two visits in 2020 saw us lose 4-1 in the league cup and 3-0 in the league.

In Atherton’s last match, the 3-0 home loss by Bamber Bridge, Atherton lined up as:
1. Nico Defreitas-Hansen
2. Clive Smith
3. Gaz Peet
4. Joel Amado
5. Danny Lafferty
6. Luca Defreitas-Hansen
7. Arran Pettifer
8. Ollie Brown
9. Scott Bakkor
10. Jay Fitzmartin
11. Aaron Smith

In Celtic’s last match, the 3-0 win away at Stafford, Celtic lined up as:
1. Greg Hall
2. Tom Miller
3. Matty Carson
4. Kyle Harrison
5. Dahrius Waldron
6. Domaine Rouse
7. Raheem Hanley
8. Godwin Abadaki
9. Raul Correia
10. Chris Dagnall
11. Nathan Caine

Harry Benns got some pitch time against Stafford also made the bench against FC United. Stafford have a few recognisable faces, like Ray-Harvey, Ntumba Massanka and Derek Ubah, whilst Theo Bailey-Jones will be familiar to Stafford.