James Forrest has had a glittering career at Celtic, but a plethora of big Glasgow derby performances hasn’t been part of it.
The Celtic winger has often been quiet against Rangers. In 18 appearances against them, Forrest has netted just one goal. That defies his overall scoring form for Celtic, as he’s bagged 20 goals this season alone.
He did get some joy against Rangers at the tail-end of last year. In the 5-0 romp at Parkhead, Forrest smashed home his first goal against them with a fine jinking run and slam into the bottom corner.
He then popped up with an assist in the 1-0 win back in September. Laying off a perfectly weighted ball for Olivier Ntcham, the Frenchman just had to slot it into a near empty net.
But it’s difficult to come up with any other notable moments Forrest has provided in this fixture. At Ibrox back in December, he went missing. Many of our usual stalwarts underperformed that day, but Forrest was one of the poorest.
And what makes it all of the odder is that Forrest is actually a big-game player. Against any top European opposition, Forrest is our main driving force. He’s always the player that’s looked the likeliest to hurt teams such as Bayern Munich, Red Bull Leipzig, and Salzburg to name a few.
Forrest has been a big-game player
Forrest has cup final goals and goals at Easter Road, Tynecastle, and Pittodrie to his name. He’s done pretty much everything in terms of big-game performances. But in this fixture, he doesn’t show his full potential often enough.
His recent moments of quality in this fixture should inspire him ahead of Sunday. He has the beating of Andy Halliday, and Forrest should know that.
If he performs to his highest level, then Rangers will be carved open time and time again. But if he doesn’t, he’ll be a man short, as he has occasionally been in the past against the Ibrox side.
The Celtic fans are owed a big performance from Forrest. He owes it to his career to produce a memorable individual showing against Rangers too. At this point, that’s all that’s missing from his ridiculously incredible CV, which boasts seven Premierships, four Scottish Cups, and four League Cups.
Nobody is asking for a one-man show on Sunday. The likes of Scott Sinclair, Tom Rogic, and Odsonne Edouard all have to play their part. But what all three of those men have in their name is a big individual performance against Rangers.
It’s debatable as to whether Forrest has that yet. Hopefully, on Sunday, he can put that notion to bed, because he certainly deserves to.
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