Celtic face Ross County in the Scottish Premiership today with the chance to move six points clear at the top of the table.
The title race has entered the last eight matches and there is no room for error, with Rangers playing away to struggling Dundee tomorrow.
Thankfully Celtic are in fine shape under Ange Postecoglou who confirmed in a press conference yesterday he is welcoming back three players from injury and illness – Jota, Liel Abada and David Turnbull.
But how does that impact today’s starting XI? Here’s our go at Postecoglou’s team today…
Joe Hart will start in goal as always.
In fact, we’re not expecting any changes to the defence at all with Josip Juranovic, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Carl Starfelt and Greg Taylor all getting the nod in this eleven after a fine performance away to Dundee United on Monday night.
In midfield, it seems likely given the options available to the manager that Callum McGregor will be in the ‘number 6’ role at the base of the midfield.
Ange has multiple options to go with in the more attacking positions. Matt O’Riley is a good candidate to start but his partner is harder to call. Reo Hatate had an up and down night against United, so we could see Tom Rogic get the nod to unpick what is expected to be an organised defence.
David Turnbull is also a shout, but he’s more likely to come off the bench after such a long time out with injury.
The attack is where we’ll likely see most changes. It’d be great to see both Jota and Liel Abada return to the fold given how dynamic and exciting they can be. With James Forrest out and Karamoko Dembele with the B team, the path is clear.
With their pace and presence out wide, it’d make sense to have a focal point of Giorgos Giakoumakis as a striker after his double on Monday, leaving Daizen Maeda to wreak havoc off the bench in the second half if needed.
Your predicted XI in full is: Hart, Juranovic, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt, Taylor, McGregor, O’Riley, Rogic, Abada, Jota, Giakoumakis.
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