Brendan Rodgers shares why Celtic expect ‘totally different’ Dundee Utd clash following Tannadice draw

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Celtic brave the wrath of a cold winter’s night in Glasgow’s east end later on when they take on Dundee United at Parkhead in the Scottish Premiership.

Coming into the clash in a positive mindset, the Bhoys swept aside St Mirren last weekend to extend their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership following Rangers’ draw at Hibernian.

While most of the post-match fallout centred around Brendan Rodgers’ comments involving Greg Taylor and Kieran Tierney, tonight is the perfect opportunity to silence any external noise with another three points on home soil.

Encouragingly, James Forrest is the only absentee as the Hoops look to add another victory to their impressive tally. The same couldn’t be said in the last meeting between the sides at Tannadice, where an injury-ravaged Celtic drew a blank at Dundee United before Christmas.

Looking ahead to the clash, Rodgers has explained why he expects his side to arrive into this one on a higher vantage point.

Brendan Rodgers expecting ‘different’ test vs Dundee United

Speaking ahead of Celtic’s bout with Dundee United, Rodgers made it clear that his side’s positive momentum generated against St Mirren, alongside having more options to choose from will create a ‘totally different’ set of circumstances for his side heading into Wednesday evening’s clash.

He stated, referencing the job Jim Goodwin has carried out at Tannadice: “Very good, you see where they sit in the league. They clearly are getting results and performances and doing very, very well. Made it very difficult for us up there, it was difficult conditions.

“But still, we couldn’t make the breakthrough that day. I would like to think this will be a totally different game.

“Playing at home, availability of players, a good performance at the weekend and (we’ll) look to back it up.”

Celtic know Dundee Utd victory could have ramifications

Taking advantage of opportunities to further your lead can never be downplayed, especially when considering Celtic could move 16 points ahead of Rangers in the Scottish Premiership by claiming another victory this evening.

Their rivals aren’t in action until tomorrow against Dundee, leaving the door open to apply serious pressure on Philippe Clement. His side dropped two points away to Hibernian last weekend; it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that they repeat the trick.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	CelticCeltic	20	17	2	1	55	7	48	53
2	RangersRangers	20	12	4	4	37	16	21	40
3	Dundee UtdDundee Utd	21	9	7	5	30	22	8	34
4	AberdeenAberdeen	21	10	4	7	32	30	2	34

However, Dundee United have quietly moved up to third place in the table and have aspirations of qualifying for continental football next term.

Previously, they have illustrated they are a tough nut to crack, so Celtic cannot afford to let any complacency creep in come kick-off time.