Celtic team news vs Kilmarnock as Rodgers provides fitness update on Kuhn, Maeda and Carter-Vickers

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Celtic face Kilmarnock in the opening Scottish Premiership match of the season on Sunday afternoon.

Derek McInnes’ side proved to be difficult opponents on more than one occasion last term, taking four points off the Bhoys in the league and knocking the team out of the Scottish League Cup.

Brendan Rodgers will be eager for his side to show they can carry excellent pre-season form into the competitive stuff and lay down a marker that there’s improvement in the side from last term.

The pre-season tour went largely without a hitch though there were a few niggling injury concerns in the tail-end of the fortnight.

Nicolas Kuhn was on fire against Man City but missed the Chelsea match with a back complaint, while Daizen Maeda clashed with a Blues opponent and had to be substituted off. Cameron Carter-Vickers also fell awkwardly and was replaced by Stephen Welsh against the English Premier League side.

Brendan Rodgers provides Celtic team update ahead of Kilmarnock

The manager said in a pre-match media conference [Celtic FC]: “Nicolas has been back in training the last couple of days, so he’ll be okay for the weekend.

“Daizen we just need to assess. He may not make it at the weekend, it was quite a nasty knee bruise that he had against Chelsea when he came off. We’ll give that until the last moment and see how he is.

“Cameron is fine. The squad that we have is in a really good place.”

Other options close in on Celtic action

Defender Maik Nawrocki has also returned to the training albeit the Kilmarnock fixture will likely come too soon for him to feature.

Paulo Bernardo has also been involved in training at Lennoxtown but Rodgers warned in a Celtic TV interview that he doesn’t quite have the match fitness to start on Sunday having not featured for Benfica in pre-season.

The squad in general is in good shape and raring to go. A few good results early on, plus more signings, would see Celtic carry strong momentum into the Autumn. That’s what we’re all hoping for.