Celtic take on Dundee United at Tannadice in the Scottish Premiership today, knowing that a victory will return the Bhoys to the top of the league.
Rangers currently sit top having played a game more, the 4-0 victory over Ross County at Ibrox yesterday. Ange Postecoglou’s team have the tougher assignment this weekend with a bruised United sure to see this one as a potential season restart.
With a fully fit squad to choose from, what kind of eleven will the manager go with today? Here’s our best estimate…
Joe Hart will continue in goals. The defence of Josip Juranovic, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Moritz Jenz and Greg Taylor in front of him is likely to remain unchanged.
This is Celtic’s last match before the schedule really ramps up, and rotation is likely, so you can envisage Postecoglou sticking with much of the starting eleven that has played consistently throughout August month.
As a result, expect to see Callum McGregor and Matt O’Riley in the line-up too.
The big change I could see Ange making is bringing Reo Hatate back into the fold after missing three starts due to an injury sustained against Aberdeen on the opening day. He looked sharp off the bench last week and could be preferred to David Turnbull.
Daizen Maeda and Jota offer the perfect dual threat on the flanks. Maeda has been busy in recent weeks setting up goals for Kyogo Furuhashi, who is also the smart bet to start today.
Jota, meanwhile, has the creativity and x-factor ability to come up with a goal from nothing should we be struggling to break a defensive United team down.
With big talents such as Giorgos Giakoumakis and Liel Abada on the bench, we should have the firepower needed to get the job done today over the 90 minutes.
Your predicted XI in full is: Hart, Juranovic, Carter-Vickers, Jenz, Taylor, McGregor, O’Riley, Hatate, Jota, Maeda, Kyogo.
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