Our Celtic XI vs St Mirren for tonight’s clash in Paisley may not contain many shocks, but there’s plenty of talking points to be taken from it.
Indeed, Neil Lennon has taken to tinkering with his starting line-ups in recent weeks. The introduction of Albian Ajeti vs Kilmarnock was a big surprise. The re-introduction of Stephen Welsh to the starting XI over the last two games was another.
Interestingly, the match that led to Lennon making those two changes, in particular, was our last game vs Jim Goodwin’s Buddies. A shocking 2-1 Parkhead defeat that led to Celtic effectively surrendering any small hopes we had of 10-in-a-row.
And granted, even though Rangers dropped two points at Hamilton on Sunday, it still feels speculative at best to start doing the maths again. Even so, we continue to hope we can finally build some late-season momentum. In order to do that, revenge is in order at the Simple Digital Arena tonight. Here, we take a look at our predicted XI:
Predicted Celtic XI vs St Mirren contains no real shocks
Scott Bain just isn’t impressing, is he? Back in for the Hamilton game at the end of January, he’s conceded three goals in his four games since taking Vasilis Barkas’ place. All three have been poor to lose from his perspective. But don’t expect him to be dropped anytime soon.
Jonjoe Kenny is one of the feel-good stories about the club, however. He’s done well in his first two appearances as a Celtic right-back. He’ll keep his place with Greg Taylor operating down the other side. Taylor produced some superb deliveries against Motherwell on Saturday, we’ll be looking for more of the same from him tonight.
At the heart of the defence, there is only one obvious choice to make. Kris Ajer and Stephen Welsh simply must be given the opportunity to develop their own understanding. This will give us the best chance of having a decent end to the 2020/21 campaign. With the latter making the SPFL Team of the Week too, dropping him now would be madness.
Lennon to make one controversial decision
One of the major talking points this week was the fact that Ismaila Soro was in a minor car crash. Lennon still hopes he can make the squad tonight [Celtic TV], but don’t expect him to start. This will be enough of a reason for the manager to make the controversial decision to keep Scott Brown in the team.
With James Forrest back in training but still not ready to be tossed back in [Glasgow Live], we’ll go for Ryan Christie to play on the right side of a diamond formation. On the left side – Callum McGregor. That leaves David Turnbull with the freedom to link up with the front-men and make advancing runs in the number 10 position.
As for the strike partnership, it simply has to be Odsonne Edouard and Albian Ajeti. The former has five goals in his last four games, as he threatens to belatedly turn on the style this season. As for Albian, he’s fresh off of avoiding a ridiculous ban for the pathetic citing of his simulation charge at Kilmarnock last week. He should keep his place as he looks to get back on the goal trail.
Predicted XI: Scott Bain, Jonjoe Kenny, Stephen Welsh, Kristoffer Ajer, Greg Taylor, Scott Brown, Ryan Christie, Callum McGregor, David Turnbull, Albian Ajeti, Odsonne Edouard
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