Wednesday night’s Hibernian clash at Parkhead is going to be one of our toughest challenges since the return.
It’s been a tough last couple of weeks for the Easter Road men. They parted ways with their best manager in years in Neil Lennon, and have since put Eddie May an Grant Murray in temporary charge.
It hasn’t exactly provided much of a mini-revival either. The Hibees won 3-1 at St Mirren, only to be outplayed by Aberdeen at their own ground on Saturday.
But poor results have never stopped Hibs performing heroically against Celtic recently. The Hoops only need to look back to December, where they lost 2-0 at Easter Road in one of Brendan Rodgers’ side’s worst displays of the campaign.
The starting XI should look a fair bit different to the side that embarrassed the Hoops that day. So who’s set to start at Parkhead on Wednesday night?
The team
First off, Scott Bain could be in for his sternest challenge yet this mid-week. Hibs have plenty of goal threats – not something you could say for the sides Bain has faced so far since the winter break. He’s going for clean-sheet number 11, however, so will be in fine spirits.
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Brendan Rodgers’ biggest decision, however, will be what he does to patch up his defence. Dedryck Boyata may be back in training, but it’s unlikely he’s ready to start. And with both Filip Benkovic and Kristoffer Ajer not available to feature, Rodgers could turn to a midfielder.
Indeed, Nir Bitton could be partnered alongside Jozo Simunovic. Emilio Izaguirre you would expect would keep his place, whilst Jeremy Toljan should get the chance to have his first start.
Callum McGregor and Scott Brown remain un-droppable, but Rodgers has other important decisions to make too.
With James Forrest coming off against Saints with a hamstring knock, we’re going to predict he isn’t risked. We spoke earlier in the week about how this could give Oliver Burke the chance to play in his favoured right-wing position. That’s what we’re going to go with, with Scott Sinclair on the left and Ryan Christie through the middle.
Timothy Weah came on and changed the game against St Johnstone with an assist followed by a goal. That should also be followed by his second start in the Hoops.
Here’s our full predicted XI in list form: