Manager Ange Postecoglou has named his Celtic team vs Hearts in the Scottish Premiership today.
The full match squad is as follows:
Starting XI – Hart, Juranovic, Carter-Vickers, Jenz, Taylor, McGregor, O’Riley, Turnbull, Jota, Maeda, Kyogo.
Substitutes – Siegrist, Starfelt, Giakoumakis, Abada, Mooy, Bernabei, Hatate, Forrest, Ralston.
With Rangers dropping points away to Hibernian yesterday, today is a chance for the Bhoys to stamp authority on the league table and show everyone they will not be moved.
The manager has named an unchanged line-up from the team that thrashed Kilmarnock, keeping faith in Moritz Jenz and David Turnbull despite players such as Carl Starfelt and Reo Hatate getting back to fitness.
It’s a strong eleven and a brilliant bench. Hopefully, that combination is enough to grab all three points.
Broadcast details
This match had been scheduled to take place on a Saturday at 3pm, but was moved due to Hearts’ Europa League participation. As a result, there is no live television coverage.
The only way to watch the fixture is via Celtic TV’s streaming service, and video will only be available to international subscribers outside of the UK & Ireland.
Celtic don’t have permission to offer it as a PPV service, with the SPFL’s new TV deal with Sky Sports still pending.
No international channels, beyond Celtic TV, are carrying coverage with most broadcasters choosing weekend games from the SPFL’s world feed (usually aligned with Sky Sports).
BBC Radio Scotland will be providing live audio commentary across their services.
Instant verdict on Celtic team vs Hearts
I am slightly surprised Hatate hasn’t come directly back into the eleven. He was in excellent form through pre-season and would have likely featured more in the early stages of the season had he not been injured against Aberdeen.
The Japanese midfielder also scored a beauty of a goal against Hearts last term and Turnbull wasn’t at his best in Ayrshire.
However, the manager clearly feels this is the midfield needed to tackle Hearts and Hatate is likely to get minutes off the bench in the second half.
The only other borderline call was between Starfelt and Jenz, though it should be stressed the German didn’t put a foot wrong against Killie last week. Thoughts of the Swede starting were mostly put down to him gaining match sharpness.
A competitive home debut for Jenz certainly isn’t a bad thing.
In other news, Matt O’Riley’s special praise for Greg Taylor ahead of Celtic vs Hearts.
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