Alan Hutton spooked as he tells Rangers what they can’t do against red-hot Celtic star Daizen Maeda

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Daizen Maeda is on red-hot form right now for Celtic and is coming up against what seems to be his favourite opponent this weekend.

The attacker has flourished for the Hoops this season and has dwarfed his own stats from previous campaigns with plenty of goals and assists to his name. He has improved every aspect of his game under Brendan Rodgers and Celtic are benefiting from that as a whole.

Maeda must be a shoo-in for Celtic player of the year but he’ll be looking to add to his stats further this weekend when Rangers come to town at Parkhead as his side looks to strengthen their grip on the Scottish Premiership by going 19 clear at the top.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	CelticCeltic	29	24	3	2	87	17	70	75
2	RangersRangers	29	18	5	6	59	26	33	59
3	HibernianHibernian	29	11	10	8	44	40	4	43
4	AberdeenAberdeen	29	12	6	11	38	46	-8	42

Alan Hutton, the former Ibrox defender, has watched Maeda rip his opponents – namely James Tavernier – to shreds in the Glasgow derby over the years and the 40-year-old has cautioned his old employers about the Japanese international once again.

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Hutton tells Rangers what they can’t do against Celtic’s Maeda

And there’s one thing in particular Gers must avoid doing against their familiar foe or risk another pasting.

“With Maeda you genuinely can’t switch off. Not that he’d need you to because he’s so sharp off the mark and his movement’s that good that it’s always gonna be difficult, but he’s went to the next level. With his finishing being so good now it’s taken him to the next level,” Hutton said on the Scottish Football Social Club show.

“We know when it comes to Rangers he’s given people nightmares and he’s that guy that before an Old Firm(sic) game you’ll be sitting going, ‘I know I’m in for a tough task tomorrow, I need to be on point if I want to try and stop him’.

“Even now moving playing inside as a number 9 and you’ve got Jota and Nicolas Kuhn with the pace also, you just can’t switch off. His movement and everything is top quality and it’s gonna be difficult to slow him down.”

Maeda’s Celtic record vs Rangers compared to other Scots clubs

Maeda loves the derby and his statistics prove that to be the case.

Incredibly, according to the player’s career stats, Rangers are the club Maeda has played most often against throughout his time as a professional.

And statistically they are his fourth best club to square off against by ways of goals and assists.

Only Hibs and Aberdeen from his time in Scotland have suffered more against Maeda than the Light Blues have.

Of the other teams at the top of that list is Japanese outfit Oita Trinita against whom the 27-year-old has banged in five goals and provided two assists in six outings.