How many players St Mirren are missing for Celtic clash; no excuses for Bhoys

Add as preferred source on Google

St Mirren are missing a dozen first-team squad players ahead of meeting Celtic tomorrow night.

After the Premier Sports Cup Final, it’s back to league business for Celtic; but against St Mirren, it’ll be a very different set of circumstances.

Last week, the Buddies announced they’d shut down their training sessions due to an outbreak of Covid-19. Now, the Scottish Sun reports that the Paisley club are left with just 10 outfield players for the visit of Celtic tomorrow.

Eight regular starters will miss the game, along with one of Goodwin’s coaching staff. The league have given St Mirren special permission to recall four youngster from loans.

All in, it’s a grim, grim scenario for our next SPFL opponents.

For Celtic, it’s an opportunity, of course. After the rigours of the Premier Sports Cup Final win, there’s a chance to rotate the squad somewhat. Obviously, 3 points are crucial, but it doesn’t mean some fringe players can’t enter the fray and contribute tomorrow night.

The main concern, though, is public safety. With supporters still allowed to attend matches for the meantime, it’ll be curious to see whether this outbreak in the St Mirren squad leads to tightened security measures.

Celtic need to take advantage of unfortunate St Mirren scenario

Given the rigours of Premier Sports Cup Final, and the gruelling schedule, this would be a good time to bench a few key players. Keeping the likes of Callum McGregor, Tom Rogic and Kyogo fresh for the rest of the month may be a good idea.

With no disrespect to St Mirren, they are absolutely up against it here. With so much of their squad missing out, and youngsters having to fill in the gaps, it’s an opportunity for Celtic, harsh as that sounds.

Players like Liam Shaw and Osaze Urhoghide impressed against Real Betis. Owen Moffat has come off the bench in our last two games. To see any of that trio start against St Mirren would be very interesting indeed.

It’s not an ideal scenario for anyone, though. And the situation says a lot about where we are in terms of the fight against Covid-19.

Read more: The Forrest, Turnbull and Kyogo fitness situation ahead of St Mirren vs Celtic