Celtic are set to play Aston Villa in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Brendan Rodgers has the chance to lift his team into the seeded playoff places if they can get at least a point at Villa Point. Celtic could also reach the Champions League top-eight places if they beat Villa and results elsewhere go the Celtic manager’s way.
With Storm Eowyn causing the Bhoys’ fixture against Dundee to be called off at the weekend, Celtic have had some extra rest heading into the big Champions League fixture that could help Rodgers get a positive result against the EPL club.
However, the Hoops boss only needs to look at what West Ham did in their Premier League draw with Aston Villa on Sunday and use that as a blueprint to help give Celtic a hint on how to get a positive result at Villa Park on Wednesday night.
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The hints West Ham gave Celtic to help get a result at Villa Park
West Ham set up in a 5-3-2 formation for their 1-1 draw with Villa and had their wingbacks looking to push forward at every opportunity. The London club also deployed the high press, similar to Celtic and it seems Unai Emery’s side struggled to deal with it.
Whilst Celtic play a 4-3-3, Brendan Rodgers does use his fullbacks to attack the flanks and open up space in the middle of the park.
Potter used that space to make his attacking midfielders, Lucas Paquetá and Tomas Soucek, push forward and it almost paid off in the final minutes had an offside decision not denied Paqueta a late winner.
Hatate, Bernardo and Engels are all forward-thinking players and offer the same if not better, attacking threat that West Ham’s two midfielders did.
Graham Potter’s post-match West Ham comments drop hints to Celtic for Villa Park tie
Speaking after the match, Hammers boss Graham Potter was happy with his team’s performance and his comments showed that the Premier League’s tactics are similar to what Celtic deploy each week.
Potter told the BBC, “I think the performance maybe deserved more. We played well after the first 15 minutes.
“We tried to win the ball back high. It’s a reward for the performance we got today.
“We wanted our wing-backs to be more aggressive with their movement, which they did. It’s really pleasing overall that the squad looks ready to fight.
“This has been the first week we’ve had as a training week. We have to keep going, we are at the start.”
The high press and aggressive, attacking fullbacks is a blueprint of Celtic’s play that has brought the club some great success in the Champions League.
Let’s hope it pays off on Wednesday night as Rodgers looks to write another historic chapter in Celtic’s history in Europe’s elite competition.
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