It’s Scottish Cup action this weekend for Celtic as they welcome Hibs to Glasgow.
Brendan Rodgers is excited about the atmosphere he expects from the magic of the cup with the visitors from Easter Road bringing as many as 7000 fans to watch the action.
Celtic handed the allocation to their opponents in a classy gesture but Rodgers will want the extended graces to end there as he looks towards a potential Treble having already won the Premier Sports Cup and with the Premiership title all but sewn up.
The manager has some decisions to make in the quarter-final tie where personnel is concerned with Rodgers discussing Celtic injury issues in his press conference this week.
Rodgers has some players back in training but whether or not the gaffer picks them to start is another question.
So here at 67 Hail Hail we’ve attempted to predict what Rodgers might be thinking as he selects the XI stars he feels can knock Hibs out and avenge the recent 2-1 defeat at Easter Road.
Celtic predicted XI vs Hibs
Kasper Schmeichel is important to what Celtic do between the sticks so he’ll start in goal ahead of Viljami Sinisalo.
At right-back we reckon there’s a spot for Alistair Johnston and on the left we believe Jeffrey Schlupp might come in after Greg Taylor struggled at Hibs last time.
Auston Trusty is back fit so he’ll play with Cameron Carter-Vickers as Liam Scales is out of action.
Callum McGregor should return having trained this week and he’ll be alongside Luke McCowan and Arne Engels, for our money.
Daizen Maeda will return to the left-flank with Nicolas Kuhn on the right and that leaves space for Adam Idah to start through the middle.
Rodgers to leave Yang feeling hard done by
Our predictions coming true would see Rodgers making just the one change from the 5-2 win over St Mirren in Paisley last week.
McCowan incidentally did press this week for the game so could come in to replace Reo Hatate in the midfield engine room.
Perhaps one player who might feel hard done by if he’s left out is Yang who was excellent from the bench vs the Buddies.
Kuhn’s form has dipped somewhat and the South Korean has done very well in recent fixtures.
There is certainly an argument to be made in Yang’s favour.
- Celtic predicted XI vs Hibs: SCHMEICHEL, JOHNSTON, CCV, TRUSTY, SCHLUPP, MCGREGOR, MCCOWAN, ENGELS, MAEDA, KUHN, IDAH.
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