Celtic still have work to do in the Scottish Premiership this season but it’s looking increasingly likely that Neil Lennon and his Bhoys will lift the league title for a ninth consecutive season.
One of the major hurdles we’ll have to jump before celebrating that feat will be next week’s derby away to Rangers at Ibrox.
With Steven Gerrard’s side playing against Bayer Leverkusen just days before, Celtic have a great opportunity to field a well-rested and fully fit eleven after the exertions of the last few weeks.
It makes this weekend’s game against St Mirren an interesting one for Lennon.
It’s unlikely he’ll be rotating his starting eleven too much, but it could be a good opportunity to bring in one or two fresh faces in key positions.
Defensive depth
With Jozo Simunovic struggling with a knee issue and Kristoffer Ajer only just overcoming a thigh injury to play against Livingston, Celtic’s three-man defence is looking a little light heading into the closing stages of the season.
Nir Bitton is available of course but he doesn’t exactly have a spotless injury record and keeping the composed Israeli international fit ahead of Ibrox is crucial at this point.
That hands Lennon a great chance to utilise one of his academy talents – Stephen Welsh.
Impressive away debut
The 20-year-old has already been given a senior start this season of course, playing in comfortable 4-1 victory away to Hamilton in the Scottish Premiership last month.
He was one of the better defensive performers on the day, looking sharp with his forward passing and composed in the face Accies’ physical attack.
At one point in the first half, he even made a crucial tackle to deny a one-on-one goalscoring opportunity.
Resting one of our regular defenders on Saturday and handing Welsh a Celtic Park debut would be excellent to see.
His confidence will be high
What’s more, Welsh is likely in great spirits this week in particular after scoring for the Colts side mid-week against Queen’s Park in the City of Glasgow Cup.
Captaining the side to a 3-0 win, the young player appears eager to impress and could even be outgrowing development football.
We need to ensure the pathway to the first-team remains open and those excellent second-string performances are rewarded.
There are never many opportunities to play youngsters too often when chasing a title, but the circumstances are aligning in this scenario.
It’ll be interesting to see if Lennon takes Ibrox into account when selecting his eleven to face St Mirren.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
