Killie have shown they can beat Celtic at Rugby Park - here's how they can do it again

Looking back at the two wins over Celtic last season to see how Derek McInnes and co might do it again.

There aren’t many who expect Kilmarnock to get a result against Celtic this weekend - but they did it twice last season.

While Derek McInnes’ men will be heavy underdogs on Sunday afternoon, a 1-0 win in the League Cup and a 2-1 victory in the Premiership show it can be done.

There are some important caveats here. This isn’t the same Celtic team as last season, they spent around £30m on transfers in the summer including £11m on Arne Engels, which is not far off double Killie’s entire revenue for 2022-23.

Their wage bill is around £65m per year, while Kilmarnock’s was around £2.4m in the last accounts, and as a result, they simply have better players.

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And, of course, we’ve seen that they can give any team in the league - including Killie - a hounding on their day.

To get a result against Celtic you both need to play very well yourself and hope they have an off day, and you may also have to ride your luck a little.

That said, this team has shown it can match the Hoops - they beat them twice at Rugby Park last season and drew at Parkhead.

Is there anything those two wins can tell us going into the weekend?

We took a look back at the two home wins over Celtic last season to try and get a blueprint for success on Sunday. The highlights are at the start of every post for anyone who needs a reminder, or just wants to enjoy them again…

Kilmarnock 1 Celtic 0

In the League Cup victory, McInnes set up in a 4-2-3-1 with Kyle Magennis playing behind Marley Watkins, flanked by Danny Armstrong and Matty Kennedy.

That offered both support for the striker and someone to put pressure on Callum McGregor when he dropped deep to receive possession.

One thing that jumps out when re-watching this performance is how aggressive Kilmarnock were from the start.

Given Joe Hart has never been the most proficient passer, they pressed high and hard whenever Celtic attempted to build out from the back.