Celtic manager Neil Lennon won’t want to ring the changes too much tomorrow night at Parkhead.
The Hoops continue their Betfred Cup campaign as they remain one game away from another trip to Hampden. Over the last three years, Celtic have played at the national stadium on 12 different occasions. Nobody has managed to beat them there either.
So Partick Thistle have the unenviable task of trying to stop us even making it to Mount Florida. They’re the visitors to Celtic Park tomorrow, and they arrive with a new manager in Ian McCall. They’ll be going all out to impress the former Ayr United gaffer in the biggest arena Scottish football has to offer.
Lennon has a big opportunity in his hands to make some big changes meanwhile. However, he’ll know the importance of not going over the top. So let’s have a look at just who could drop out.
The team
Fraser Forster has started life at Parkhead with two clean sheets out of five. However, the truth is that his work in goal deserves better than that. He’s been a stalwart, but don’t be surprised if Lenny turns to Craig Gordon for the visit of Partick.
We’re going to go with a back three given the injury problems Celtic could have at the back. With Moritz Bauer picking up a twisted ankle, it’s not worth risking him. And whilst Christopher Jullien may be saying that he’s fine after a hamstring tweak, he comes into the same boat. Therefore, we’re going for a back three of Hatem Abd Elhamed, Kristoffer Ajer, and Boli Bolingoli. Greg Taylor is unfortunately cup-tied.
This could give Lenny the chance to flood the midfield with his ball-players. Down the right, it would be the ideal time to give Marian Shved a game. However, the Ukrainian hasn’t been in any of the last five matchday squads. James Forrest was the hero in the last round at home to Dunfermline Athletic, and he could get the nod once again.
A midfield three of Scott Brown, Olivier Ntcham, and Tom Rogic could be given a chance to work together. Ryan Christie and Callum McGregor are both in fine form. But this is another game that screams like a key opportunity to rest them for tougher tests ahead.
Another chance to impress for Mo?
Mikey Johnston’s injury should see Mohamed Elyounoussi return down the left. He’s yet to feature for us at Celtic Park, and he could do with the confidence booster.
That leaves us with two spots up top. This is optimistic, but we’re going to go for both Vakoun Issouf Bayo and Leigh Griffiths to partner each other for the first time since pre-season. Griff missed the Rennes and Killie matches through injury respectively. Hopefully he’s good to go for Partick.
That should be more than enough firepower to gun down Thistle. There’s a bit of real optimism in this line-up. However, Lenny could do with freshening things up ahead of a huge couple of weeks.
As always, here’s the team in list form:
GK – Craig Gordon
RCB – Hatem Abd Elhamed
CB – Kristoffer Ajer
LCB – Boli Bolingoli
RM – James Forrest
CM – Olivier Ntcham
CM – Scott Brown
CAM – Tom Rogic
LM – Mohamed Elyounoussi
ST – Vakoun Issouf Bayo
ST – Leigh Griffiths
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
