Kilmarnock boss Stuart Kettlewell has delivered two admissions that hand Celtic a boost for Sunday.
The Hoops return to Scottish Premiership action at the weekend after a turbulent international break dominated by fan anger towards the club’s board.
Celtic will travel to Rugby Park top of the league and unbeaten in domestic competition, despite performance levels not being at their best.
Brendan Rodgers will explain how the squad is shaping up injury-wise on Friday at his press conference, but Killie manager Kettlewell has already told the press – and it’s good for the Bhoys.
Kilmarnock have injury issues ahead of Celtic clash
Kettlewell was speaking to reporter Gordon Duncan at Rugby Park on Wednesday and revealed his team are suffering with injury problems.
Moreover, he explained that there won’t be wholesale changes to the XI he fielded against Motherwell before the international break, which produced a 2-2 draw.
Kettlewell said: “I think for us, it wasn’t a bad time. We feel we’ve had a strong start to the season in the league and cup, but we also find ourselves with a few injuries.
Pressed on if players are recovering quickly enough ahead of facing the Hoops, he replied: “Probably not as quick as we wanted.
“We’ve got a couple we felt might have accelerated over this last week or so, but through no fault of their own, the injuries and knocks and muscular problems haven’t healed as quickly as we’d hoped they would.
“So I’m not expecting wholesale changes of what we were against Motherwell and the squad that we had available to us. We’ll just have to wait and see on one or two.”
Do Celtic have injury problems pre-Kilmarnock?
Thankfully, Celtic seem to be generally fine ahead of the Scottish Premiership’s return, although the full picture isn’t clear yet.
We know that Alistair Johnston and Jota are long-term absentees, so they won’t be anywhere near the squad to face Killie.
Kieran Tierney and Anthony Ralston pulled out of the Scotland squad last week, so it remains to be seen what the extent of their respective injuries are.
Kelechi Iheanacho said he will be ready for Kilmarnock, but there is obviously a big question mark over his fitness overall.
And the guys who played international football in recent days will hopefully be fit and ready, but Rodgers will confirm that on Friday at Lennoxtown.
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