The strongest Celtic line-up Martin O’Neill can pick for crucial Europa League tie vs Utrecht

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Celtic head into their final Europa League game against Utrecht with Martin O’Neill facing a selection headache.

The Celtic manager knows he will be without Reo Hatate after the Japanese midfielder was dismissed in the Bhoys’ Europa League draw with Bologna last week.

Tomas Cvancara is also out of the tie as the Celtic striker could not be registered due to his late transfer arrival to the club.

Celtic vs Utrecht in the Europa League

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That leaves Martin O’Neill with a big selection headache ahead of Utrecht’s visit to Celtic Park in a must-win game for the Bhoys tonight.

So who is the strongest team that O’Neill can now pick from and should the Hoops boss take a risk on returning striker Kelechi Iheanacho?

• READ MORE: Celtic boss Martin O’Neill makes concerning January transfer admission

The best Celtic starting XI O’Neill can choose for Utrecht visit

With so many selection issues for Martin O’Neill and not enough being done by Celtic in transfers to ease the burden, here is a starting XI that we believe will give the Hoops boss the best chance of a vital Europa League win.

Celtic predicted XI vs Utrecht

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Engels replaces the banned Hatate and Daizen Maeda should be deployed as the lone striker with Hyunjun Yang and Sebastian Tounekti providing the ammunition.

The Celtic defence picks itself with the same back four starting that put in a stellar performance in Bologna.

Kasper Schmeichel keeps his place in goal after the big Dane’s recent impressive performances.

Three big things we noticed from Celtic’s final training session before Utrecht tie

Celtic took in their final training session ahead of the vital Europa League tie and here are three things we noticed about the Bhoys.

• The players look happy and relaxed, especially Michel-Ange Balikwisha
• Kelechi Iheanacho was back on the grass so he could play some part in tonight’s game
• Celtic integrated a number of young Academy players into the first-team training session

Hopefully, Celtic can get the win they need to help automatic qualification into the play-off rounds so that the Bhoys can continue to fly the flag for Scotland in Europe.