Celtic predicted XI vs St Johnstone as Brendan Rodgers to ring changes

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Celtic know a win over St Johnstone this weekend takes them a step closer to the title.

Manager Brendan Rodgers will always pick the Celtic starting XI he feels is best suited to picking up three points and this weekend at McDiarmid Park is no different.

Of course there have been issues for the boss over the past few weeks with injuries after Kasper Schmeichel hurt himself on international break while Callum McGregor missed Rangers and Auston Trusty was also ruled out.

That allowed Maik Nawrocki and Vil Sinisalo to deputise and they did well enough in their respective outings, but the boss has his big stars back and may call upon them when kick-off rolls around in Perth on Sunday.

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Celtic predicted XI vs St Johnstone

Schmeichel trained this week but won’t be available so Sinisalo will continue while at right-back we suspect Alistair Johnston to continue.

Cameron Carter-Vickers may well be partnered by Trusty once again despite Nawrocki doing fine and then Jeffrey Schlupp will keep wantaway Greg Taylor on the bench.

In midfield McGregor should start for the club in his preferred defensive role while Arne Engels might well play alongside Paulo Bernardo who is back from injury.

That would allow Reo Hatate a rest having played more often than not in recent months.

Rodgers could tweak his Celtic frontline

There’s a chance Daizen Maeda plays on the left-hand side to accommodate Adam Idah through the middle as Saints often provide two combative centre-halves who may not like playing against the physical Irishman.

That would mean either Jota or Nicolas Kuhn being rested and after his lethal showing vs Hearts last weekend, we don’t imagine Rodgers would rotate Kuhn, so Jota would sit out.

Of course this is all a prediction and we at 67 Hail Hail could be completely off base.

However, Rodgers has a strong enough squad to win the game regardless of personnel and we hope he gets it right when it comes.

• Predicted Celtic XI: SINISALO, JOHNSTON, CCV, TRUSTY, SCHLUPP, MCGREGOR, ENGELS, BERNARDO, MAEDA, KUHN, IDAH.