Celtic rarely have it all their own way at Rugby Park when they face Kilmarnock.
This afternoon’s Scottish Premiership clash was no different, either.
Brendan Rodgers picked a strong XI to face Derek McInnes’ side who were up for the scrap from the first whistle, creating their own chances and harrying their visitors from the jump.
It was always set up to be a closely contested 90 or so minutes and so it has proved to be with Callum McGregor’s fluke goal and yet another Nicolas Kuhn finish the difference between the two sides.
Celts could not really find their rhythm throughout, it must be said, but Rodgers’ troops did what they had to do.
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They did what champions do and made sure they fought and eked out three valuable points to go back to the summit of the division.
The usually big performers had an off day – even with the victory in the bag – albeit Kuhn did pop up with a late flash of genius before he was substituted off for James Forrest.
Daizen Maeda was not at his best, nor was Reo Hatate or Adam Idah. McGregor scored but all credit has to go to Killie who made the league leaders work for everything.
Kasper Schmeichel also had a busy afternoon.
Nevin feels Arne Engels struggled for Celtic away at Kilmarnock
For BBC pundit Pat Nevin, though, it was record signing Arne Engels – the £11million Belgian – who struggled the most for the Bhoys and it was clear to see.
McInnes’ appeared to stick Corrie Ndaba in the midfield to work a man-marker job on the playmaker and he put in an excellent shift to keep Engels quiet.
Nevin noticed how much Celtic’s man was off it and he pointed it out during co-commentary duties for BBC Sportsound.
“I don’t think Engels is enjoying it, is he? He’s getting tackled all over the place, getting closed down, Nevin explained.
Celtic went back to the top of the Scottish Premiership with a win over Killie
“He would love to get a little bit of space to get his head up, he has hardly had half a second so far.
“And it’s nothing against him except he’s playing against possibly the best player on the pitch. I think Ndaba has had a super game so far.
“Energy levels, power levels have been fantastic, but also the ability to adapt to a hard position all throughout the game, he’s been very special.”
Engels would eventually be replaced by Paulo Bernardo.
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