Brendan Rodgers has named his Celtic team vs Hearts for today’s Scottish Premiership fixture at Tynecastle.
The full match-day squad is as follows:
Starting XI: Hart, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor, Iwata, O’Riley, Bernardo, Yang, Idah, Maeda.
Substitutes: Bain, Lagerbielke, Palma, Kyogo, Kuhn, Holm, Kelly, Ralston, Welsh
Rodgers has makes just one change to the team that demolished Dundee 7-1 as the Celtic manager looks to build on the momentum gained by that impressive performance on Wednesday night.
Out goes captain, Callum McGregor, who is not being risked as the club awaits news on a potential injury and in comes Paulo Bernardo.
After Rangers’ 2-1 defeat to Motherwell at Ibrox yesterday, Celtic now have the opportunity to claim the top spot at the top of the league should they negotiate this tricky away tie.
Broadcast details
As we have a 12pm kick-off, naturally the game is being broadcast live on Sky Sports Football with coverage starting from 11am.
Celtic TV will also be broadcasting the fixture to all subscribers outside the UK and Ireland with BBC Sportsound offering full live commentary of the game starting from 11:45am.
Highlights will be shown on Sportscene at 7:30pm on BBC Scotland and then repeated later tonight at 11:55pm on BBC One Scotland.
Instant verdict on Celtic team vs Hearts
Now that every match is a must-win from now until the end of the season, Celtic must now take advantage of Rangers’ slip-up at Ibrox and assert themselves as the dominant team this season.
Tomoki Iwata retains his place after impressive showings against Motherwell and Dundee and Matt O’Riley will be hoping to pick up where he left off after his brilliant performance against the Dens Park side.
A settled back four will bring some much-needed stability in front of the ever-present Joe Hart and Adam Idah will be hoping to continue his impressive goal-scoring form since joining Celtic on loan in January.
It’s also good to see Hyunjun Yang continue to be rewarded with a first-team place after the South Korean seems to have captured some brilliant form and a good understanding with Alistair Johnston on the right flank.
But the biggest call is the centre of midfield. Celtic captain, Callum McGregor, was a massive doubt heading into the Tynecastle fixture and Brendan Rodgers has left out his main man and placed his faith in Paulo Bernardo.
The Portuguese midfielder has been in and out of the Celtic team recently and now he gets another opportunity to impress in the absence of McGregor.
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