Celtic predicted XI vs St Mirren as Brendan Rodgers rings changes from Aberdeen rout

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It was all about redemption for Celtic earlier this week when they battered Aberdeen.

Brendan Rodgers demanded improvement from last weekend when Celtic lost 2-1 at Hibs in the Scottish Premiership.

The manager got exactly what he asked for from his squad as they recovered to maul the Dons 5-1 in front of a packed out crowd at Celtic Park in midweek action.

It was an encouraging evening in the division and helped re-open a 13-point lead at the top of the table which Rangers and their newly revamped coaching staff won’t be able to dream of catching.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	CelticCeltic	28	23	3	2	82	15	67	72
2	RangersRangers	28	18	5	5	58	24	34	59
3	AberdeenAberdeen	28	12	5	11	36	44	-8	41
4	HibernianHibernian	28	10	10	8	42	39	3	40
5	Dundee UtdDundee Utd	28	11	7	10	34	34	0	40
6	Heart Of MidlothianHeart Of Midlothian	28	10	6	12	40	38	2	36

• READ MORE: St Mirren are in trouble after Cameron Carter-Vickers warned his Celtic teammate is ‘peaking’

Celtic predicted XI vs St Mirren

Still, there are games like this weekend’s clash with St Mirren in Paisley which always throw up challenges with the Buddies in particular on a high after winning 2-0 at Ibrox last Saturday.

Sure Stephen Robinson’s side have lost to Hearts since that day, but their tails will be up when Celtic come to town at the thought of doing the double over Scotland’s big two.

That means Rodgers has to get his decisions spot on where personnel is concerned.

The Irishman knows how and when to rotate his squad and we at 67 Hail Hail feel he will make good use of it this weekend, albeit it won’t be wholesale.

Here we take a crack at predicting Celtic’s XI vs St Mirren at the SMiSA Stadium.

Brendan Rodgers could make five Celtic changes in Paisley

Kasper Schmeichel will be the man between the sticks as he so often has been. Schmeichel wants the Celtic clean sheets record and will have his chance this weekend.

Anthony Ralston might come in to help relieve Alistair Johnston who has played a lot of football on the right but we expect Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty to continue at centre-back.

Jeffrey Schlupp could continue at left-back after Greg Taylor was missing vs Aberdeen.

In midfield we expect to see Callum McGregor as usual and he might start alongside Arne Engels who has become a top player as well as Luke McCowan ahead of Reo Hatate.

Daizen Maeda might be asked to return to his traditional left-side with Yang on the right who has earned a spot to simultaneously give Nicolas Kuhn a rest.

And Adam Idah will be given the chance to add to his scoring stats by starting up front.

• Celtic predicted XI: SCHMEICHEL, RALSTON, CCV, TRUSTY, SCHLUPP, MCGREGOR, ENGELS, MCCOWAN, MAEDA, YANG, IDAH.