Derek McInnes namechecks one Celtic star in particular Kilmarnock must ‘negate’ in Scottish Cup tie

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Celtic take on Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup this weekend and visiting boss Derek McInnes sounds a tad nervous.

The Hoops begin their defence of the trophy at Parkhead with Killie making the short trip to Glasgow on Saturday evening.

Celts drew 3-3 in an uncharacteristic performance vs Dundee last weekend and McInnes was shocked at what he found “unusual” about the Hoops at Dens Park.

Defensively it was a poor night for Brendan Rodgers‘ troops who will be determined to put things right on their own patch vs Killie and McInnes is expecting a different opponent.

Nicolas Kuhn has been named Celtic’s main danger man

Rodgers can expect to call upon his favourites within the starting XI in the fixture with Daizen Maeda a possible return having missed the game against Dundee.

But it is another returning playmaker McInnes is worried about after he made an impact off the bench in Premiership action vs the dark blues on Saturday.

Nicolas Kuhn was missing from the Dundee United and Ross County clashes before coming off the sidelines and winning the late penalty for Celtic which was converted by Arne Engels to rescue a point.

And McInnes has namechecked the German international hopeful as the key man he feels his squad must “negate” to give them the best chance of success.

McInnes believes Killie can cause a shock at Celtic Park

“Although we never won at Parkhead last season, that game (1-1) and another game I thought we were good in the game,” said McInnes.

“It was close, it was pretty tight.

“Celtic have got great attacking options and Kuhn coming on and had an impact yesterday (vs Dundee).

“He gets the penalty kick with his involvement and he was only on the pitch a short time.

“They’ve got talented players they can call upon but we have to try and negate that as best we can.

“I’m always interested to see how managers set up, particularly at Celtic Park, I’m always curious to see how teams deal with Celtic’s capabilities.

“So we’ve got to try and stick to what we think has worked for us a lot of times and what suits us with the players we have available.

“We will try and be the team we’re capable of being ourselves.”