Celtic won’t have any of the injured clutch of players available again for today’s trip to Kilmarnock but Ange Postecoglou still has a strong squad to choose from in Ayrshire.
Reo Hatate, Liel Abada, James Forrest and Anthony Ralston are all expected to be missing, with the manager hoping that some of them will return to the fold over the next week or so.
But what eleven will the manager go for to take a step closer to the Scottish Premiership title? Here’s our best go at today’s team…
Joe Hart will assuredly keep his number-one spot behind a settled defensive line. Cameron Carter-Vickers, Carl Starfelt, Greg Taylor and Alistair Johnston should all feature with no reports of any knocks or injuries to Postecoglou’s first-pick foursome.
In midfield, captain Callum McGregor will be in the eleven with different options available to the manager for the rest of the central threesome.
Matt O’Riley looked sharp against Rangers, setting up the opener, so it would be no surprise to see him in the team again. It could be a chance for Aaron Mooy to build his fitness again, too, after getting a difficult re-introduction from injury in the derby.
However, Tomoki Iwata is also a contender to feature and will probably come off the bench in the second half even if he doesn’t start. The same can be said for David Turnbull.
In attack, there could be a switch up from the recent norm. Jota hasn’t been seen in recent training videos or pictures suggesting he may have picked up a knock of sorts. Although any injury was not referenced by Postecoglou in his media conference, the signs are the Portuguese could well miss out on this one.
That would leave Sead Haksabanovic to come in as an obvious replacement, complementing Daizen Maeda and the 28-goal superstar Kyogo Furuhashi in the attack.
Your predicted XI in full is: Hart, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt, Taylor, McGregor, O’Riley, Mooy, Haksabanovic, Maeda, Kyogo.
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