Neil Lennon has played down fears that Celtic striker Odsonne Edouard has suffered another injury, the Scottish Sun reports.
Edouard wasn’t at his best in the Europa League tie against Riga and was eventually replaced in the 82nd minute by Hoops match-winner Mohamed Elyounoussi.
However, speaking after the game, Lennon put Edouard’s display down to sluggish from just returning from injury than anything more serious.
“No injury issues”
“Tonight he looked a little bit off the pace. We’ll see how he is for the weekend. But he’s fine, there are no injury issues with him at all” Lennon said, as quoted by the Scottish Sun.
It has been a bit of a stop-start season for Edouard so far. Injuries have prevented him from getting a run of games for the Hoops in recent weeks.
Therefore, it wasn’t that much of a surprise to see him struggle at times against Riga. Not only is he just returning from injury, but he was playing against a packed defence that stopped him from getting a foothold in the game.
Despite that, some of his movement was excellent, but you could tell that he is just getting his fitness back. It is therefore a relief that Edouard has not suffered another injury.
Manager must weigh up two vital games
What is interesting though is Lennon’s remarks about the upcoming game against Hibernian on Sunday. Lennon will have to weigh up if Edouard is fit enough to start both that game and the match against Sarajevo in the Europa League play-off next week.
For the Hibernian game, you would imagine that Albian Ajeti will return to the starting line-up. However, the Edouard-Ajeti partnership might not be reunited in that game.
There is also the possibility of the fit again Leigh Griffiths featuring against Hibernian. Therefore, it would perhaps make sense to keep Edouard on the bench, so he is fit for the Sarajevo match.
It is not really an easy decision for Neil Lennon to make. However, the good news is that Edouard isn’t injured once more. That would have been a real problem for Celtic.
In other news, Neil Lennon’s tactics won Celtic the game against Riga.
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