Celtic enter the Scottish League Cup this weekend at the last 16 stage and it’s Hibernian who stand in the way of a quarter-final berth.
The Bhoys played Hibs last weekend at Easter Road, comfortably seeing them off by a 2-0 margin thanks to goals from Nicolas Kuhn and Callum McGregor.
There’ll be a different feel to Sunday’s match with the knockout aspect adding an extra edge to proceedings. Celtic will again be hot favourites to win, of course.
The League Cup can be viewed as a competition to rotate players out of the team, considering there’s such a heavy schedule ahead later in the season.
However, Brendan Rodgers is likely to field a strong team after the disappointment of last season’s early exit.
Celtic squad update ahead of Hibernian
The manager has confirmed Mikey Johnston will definitely be missing for the match after suffering a facial injury last weekend. It’s unclear when he’ll be back but Rodgers is hoping he can rejoin group training before too long.
Meanwhile, Kyogo Furuhashi is a doubt after missing training in the latter part of the week. The manager suggested that there’ll be a late call taken on his fitness but, with Adam Idah in the building, there’s no need to risk him or his shoulder, which popped out again at Easter Road.
Alistair Johnston is fit enough to feature but he also missed out on group training on Friday and he’s previously suggested the staff will be managing his game time in the early stages of the season. Anthony Ralston can come in to replace him for this one.
Idah and Bernardo could make first starts of the season
Idah is a better bet to start than Paulo Bernardo but both of them could make their first starts since returning as permanent signings, which would be nice to see.
Daizen Maeda could also come into the starting eleven for the first time this season after an early knee knock suffered against Chelsea in the USA.
Elsewhere, the squad is fully fit so Rodgers has plenty of options to choose from to get the better of Hibs again.
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