Celtic are without several players going into a massive run of games towards the new year where squad depth is everything.

When the injured players return, their spot in the team isn’t confirmed by any means.

Captain faces competition

Scott Brown has been out for a few weeks with a knee injury resulting in a change of shape and it appears to be working.

Callum McGregor has taken his spot for the time being and is flying.

Brown won’t be back for three weeks and it will be interesting to see if Rodgers introduces him back right away.

The old saying is if something’s broken, don’t fix it but he is the captain after all.

Brown will now be up against McGregor for the holding role as Ryan Christie and Tom Rogic are excelling in advanced positions.

Ntcham a Frenchman Rodgers may not fancy

Another player who will be up against it for that same role is Olivier Ntcham, who has a hamstring problem.

The Frenchman also plays in that holding role and, as mentioned, the team’s shape has changed.

Rodgers is learning we don’t need two holding midfielders. If Brown goes into that one position, Ntcham won’t.

Two players we won’t see until next season

Same goes for Eboue Kouassi who is out until May with an anterior cruciate ligament picked up against Hearts.

Kouassi took advantage of the squad’s injury problems and was doing well.

When he returns, a loan would probably be the best thing for him to get him back to full fitness.

First team football at Celtic will be a bit far away from Kouassi due to the competition.

Another player sidelined with the same ACL injury until the end of the season is Daniel Arzani.

The on-loan Australian only got 15 impressive minutes at Dundee before being stretchered off.

He will also have a fight on his hands with Scott Sinclair, Lewis Morgan and Christie vying for that position.

There is finally defensive competition

Lastly, Jozo Simunovic was stretchered off away at Leipzig after a decent showing.

The Croatian has been in and out the team and is plagued with injury problems.

The centre back position is now competitive with Filip Benkovic, Dedryck Boyata and Kristoffer Ajer in front of him in the pecking order.

Every injured player isn’t guaranteed their spot when they get back.

Only an injury to their competitors would see them get another chance in the first team.

It’s a testament to the way the team is now playing that its an injury crisis and not a full team crisis anymore.

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