Football is finally back. Celtic kick-off their Scottish Premiership campaign this Saturday lunchtime with a match against Malky Mackay’s Ross County at Celtic Park.
With flag day proceedings, a new manager in the dugout and a few fresh faces throughout the Celtic squad, it’s set to be an exciting day even before the consideration of picking up the first three points of the season.
But what kind of team will Brendan Rodgers go for? Who plays and who misses out? Here’s our best go at today’s starting eleven based on the latest team news and information…
Benjamin Siegrist and Scott Bain both got minutes under their belt against Athletic Club on Tuesday night but Rodgers is still expected to move forward with Joe Hart as his number one for now. There’s been a fair amount of speculation about Hart’s status at Celtic and whether the Bhoys need a new goalkeeper before the end of the transfer window, but for now the position is his.
In defence, there’s good news as it looks like Cameron Carter-Vickers will get the opportunity to put his injury problems behind him once and for all with a competitive starting berth today. Rodgers has been talking up his fitness and quality in advance of this fixture and he got a solid 45 minutes mid-week. Carl Starfelt is his likely partner despite the presence of new signing Maik Nawrocki.
Anthony Ralston has also been training consistently with the squad and is a strong contender to play on the right flank. Tomoki Iwata is available in case Ralston’s fitness isn’t quite there yet after injury issues.
Greg Taylor didn’t have the best pre-season period and Alexandro Bernabei is brimming with confidence, but it still feels likely that the Scotland international will get the nod.
Celtic’s strongest midfield right now from the available personnel is Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate and Matt O’Riley. That is the three to go with today in support of the attack. David Turnbull and Odin Thiago Holm have shown promising signs in recent friendlies and are likely to get minutes off the bench in the second half if they don’t start.
There was an online report from the BBC last night that Daizen Maeda is suspended for today’s match after his red card against Hibs at the end of last season but it’s understood this was actually immediately served against Aberdeen on trophy day. He should be starting on the left wing.
On the other side, Liel Abada is ready to do damage after a positive summer period and reinvigoration under Rodgers. That leaves Kyogo Furuhashi through the middle to resume his Premiership goalscoring.
Like Holm, new signing Hyunjun Yang is a candidate to make his competitive debut off the bench with Hyeongyu Oh also available should things need freshening up in the second half.
Your predicted XI in full is: Hart, Ralston, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt, Taylor, McGregor, Hatate, O’Riley, Abada, Maeda, Kyogo.
In other news, Celtic watch on as SFA address wild Rangers penalty streak and transparency issues.
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