Celtic find themselves locked in a title race with Rangers that could go down to the wire between now and the end of the season.
With nine matches to go, the Bhoys are two points behind their city rivals; however, both sides will face off twice before the end of the season, potentially deciding the destination of this year’s league title.
Last weekend, Brendan Rodgers’ men enjoyed a break from Scottish Premiership duty, seeing off Livingston 4-2 to reach the semi-final of the Scottish Cup, which will be drawn tonight.
Nevertheless, we turn our attention back to the league this weekend. St Johnstone travel to Parkhead on Saturday hoping to end their run of just one victory in six matches.
Nicolas Kuhn impressed against David Martindale’s outfit in the cup and will hope to continue on the right flank in light of Hyunjun Yang’s suspension.
In attack, Kyogo Furuhashi could replace Adam Idah following his goalscoring exploits against Livingston; meanwhile, Luis Palma is a doubt due to suffering a training ground injury.
The Honduras international is unlikely to be risked ahead of the upcoming international break and may join Callum McGregor and potentially Cameron Carter-Vickers by watching on from the sidelines.
Should the Hoops seal three points, they can move to the top of the table for at least 24 hours, piling the pressure on Rangers ahead of their trip to face Dundee the following day.
Shay Given backs Celtic to win the Scottish Premiership title
Premier League icon Shay Given is a name known to almost everyone with a working knowledge of the game; meanwhile, the 47-year-old spent three years in Celtic’s youth system before going on to star in the English top flight for the entirety of his distinguished career.
Putting what could have been scenarios to one side, the ex-Republic of Ireland international has tipped the Bhoys to edge what he believes has become an ‘exciting’ title race to win the Scottish Premiership.
Given said live on BBC programme Football Focus: “It’s exciting again from a neutral point of view; there’s a real title race because Celtic have been so strong over the last number of years.
“They have only played each other twice so far (Celtic and Rangers). It’s so close, and it’ll go down to the wire. I hope Brendan can swing the deficit around, of course, but it’s an exciting title race north of the border.”
Celtic need to guarantee three points at home to St Johnstone
Right now, Celtic can do more than adopt a week-to-week approach under Rodgers, focusing on one game at a time in their quest to win the Scottish Premiership.
Managing to come out of this weekend’s fixture against St Johnstone with all three points and being able to, at least temporarily, wrestle the driving seat from our rivals would be a step in the right direction.
Of course, it would also be nice to generate some winning momentum heading into the international break, and by the time we return, hopefully, a few of our star men can return from injury with the crunch fixture against Rangers at Ibrox looming on April 7th.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
