Sky Sports Scottish football pundit Andy Walker has tipped Leigh Griffiths to start for the Hoops in next Saturday’s Glasgow derby, the Sky Sports Scottish football podcast reports.
Griffiths made his return to the Celtic side as a late substitute in the recent 2-0 win over St Johnstone. He scored for the Hoops in his first game since March.
Now Walker has tipped Griffiths to start for Celtic in what will be the biggest game of the season so far.
“He’s committed”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Neil Lennon played Leigh Griffiths from the start against Rangers. It looks to me now that Leigh Griffiths is focused, and he’s committed, and he’s getting his fitness back, and that can only be good news for Celtic” Walker said, appearing on the Sky Sports Scottish football podcast (08/10/20, 11:52).
That would certainly be a big call from Neil Lennon. After all, Griffiths has only just returned from a long absence. He was out of action from March, when the season ended, to October. That is over six months without a competitive game.
Hasn’t lost any sharpness in time out of side
However, Griffiths’ goal against St Johnstone showed that he hasn’t lost any of his sharpness during his time out of the side. That would have been Neil Lennon’s biggest concern. However, he still knows how to find the back of the net.
With doubts over Odsonne Edouard and Albian Ajeti’s participation in the Glasgow derby, then perhaps you can see why Walker has tipped Griffiths to get the nod to start.
Griffiths will also want to make up for his poor performance in his last derby showing against Rangers. He came on as a second-half substitute in the 2-1 loss to the Ibrox side last December. However, he failed to make much of an impact on the game.
That might well be at the back of the striker’s mind. You can bet that he would like to prove a few people wrong in the derby. Neil Lennon has an interesting decision to make.
In other news, Rangers defender Filip Helander is a doubt for the Glasgow derby.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
