St Johnstone have been struck with 2 big injury blows after a bruising clash with Livingston has left them raking through the damage.
Saints will travel to Celtic Park on Saturday in what’s going to be another huge afternoon for the Hoops. 3 points and we’ll be yet another step closer to title success whilst at the same time piling pressure on the Rangers players.
Davidson’s side arrive at Parkhead this weekend 6 points ahead of Dundee at the bottom, but look likely to be without 2 key men. Centre-back Tony Gallacher picked up an injury against Livingston that will keep him out for the rest of the season. In addition to that, first-choice left-back Dan Cleary has also suffered from a nasty challenge and needed stitches after the 1-0 win.
The Saints boss clearly wasn’t happy with the challenge on the latter. And he looks to be facing the prospect of coming to Celtic Park without him as he discussed the two injuries.
As quoted by the Courier, Davidson said: “Tony’s one was a difficult one to see. I don’t think there was any malice in the tackle. It was a simple 50-50. Unfortunately Tony has come out worst. Three months is probably the timescale we’re looking at.
“From the other one, Dan Cleary has ended up needed stitches on the top of his foot. For me it was a tackle that could quite easily have been a sending off. You could see the reaction from their sub (Andrew Shinnie) when it was made.
“It’s the sort of tackle you could make in my day – straight leg, front-on. But they’re trying to get it out of the game because of the injuries it can cause. Dan won’t be training early in the week – the foot is still swollen and obviously the stitches have just gone in. Hopefully, it will settle down before the weekend.”
St Johnstone coming to Parkhead with some fresh injury worries
A blow for the Saints that they’ll arrive in Glasgow without 2 of their first-choice defenders. On paper, that should make the afternoon a bit more routine.
However, we know better than to think any 3 points in this league is a gimme. As great as our unbeaten run has been, we’ve still been run close a couple of times at Celtic Park this year. It took us up to the final few minutes to bag a winner against Dundee. The same goes for when Dundee United visited Parkhead too.
St Johnstone know how to set up with a hard-to-beat system and a determination to create 2 banks of defenders and keep it out at all costs. That will be their game-plan as they look to soak up the Parkhead pressure.
Whilst their injury concerns are a blow for them, Davidson does have some depth available to him. Callum Booth, for example, could come in and cover either man. They’ll still arrive intent on doing their job and try to get something from the game.
We know how dangerous the first game after a derby win can be too. In the past, it hasn’t been uncommon for Celtic or Rangers to slip up immediately after a Glasgow derby success. If we avoid that this time around, we’re so close to the title we can almost taste it.
A major chance awaits us this weekend, and we can only hope it’s one we firmly take.
In other news, Even Giovanni van Bronckhorst isn’t having the Morelos excuse vs Celtic
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