Sandwiched between Celtic’s two legs of the UEFA Champions League tie against Bayern Munich is tomorrow’s match at Celtic Park where Dundee United are the visitors…
Celtic went toe-to-toe with one of the best sides in world on Wednesday night and six days after that will be doing it all over again in the Allianz Arena. Jim Goodwin in his media conference yesterday talked about what lessons he can take from how Bayern Munich went about their business at Parkhead earlier in the week. You sense though that Goodwin will believe his best chance is through a combination of Celtic tiredness and minds drifting towards Munich.
Celtic Team News
It was noticeable that very little was said at the two media conferences on Friday afternoon at Lennoxtown with Brendan Rodgers and Adam Idah. So there is a danger here and one Brendan Rodgers will be well aware of. The Celtic manager, who will be without Paulo Bernardo for the four to five weeks, will clearly want to rest as many legs as possible and will take as many risks as he thinks he can in order to strengthen his hand for the Champions League.
Predicted Celtic Team
Kasper Schmeichel sat out last weekend’s Scottish Cup fifth round tie against Raith Rovers with a back complaint. Viljami Sinisalo stepped in to make his competitive debut and the Finish International shot-stopper might get his first start in the Scottish Premiership tomorrow.
Anthony Ralston, Dane Murray, Liam Scales and Jeffrey Schlupp was the back-four against Barry Robson’s team last Saturday evening and they might all get the nod once again tomorrow. The back four from midweek can all put their feet up.
In the middle of the park Luke McCowan will start but the loss of Paulo Bernardo through injury makes things tougher for Rodgers as the Portuguese midfielder would certainly have played in this game. Expect Callum McGregor and Reo Hatate to start.
Brendan Rodgers was full of praise for Yang at his media conference and expect the South Korean to start on the right with Jota getting the nod wide on the left. Through the middle Adam Idah is likely to play although there is a strong case for Johnny Kenny getting a chance to start.
So all things considered we reckon Brendan will go with this starting eleven…
Viljami Sinisalo; Anthony Ralston, Dane Murray, Liam Scales, Jeffrey Schlupp; Luke McCowan, Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate; Yang, Adam Idah, Jota.
Subs: Bain, Taylor, Nawrocki, Kenny, Engels, Maeda, Trusty, Kuhn
Match Officials
Nick Walsh will take charge of this Premiership clash. The experienced whistler was most recently the man in the middle for Celtic’s Scottish Cup fourth round tie against Kilmarnock at Paradise in January.
This will be the 34 year-old’s fifth game overseeing Celtic this season. Walsh was referee for the Hoops’ 2-0 win over Hibs at Easter Road in August, 2-2 draw versus Jimmy Thelin’s Aberdeen in October and Rodgers’ men’s hard-fought 2-0 victory against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park in November.
Assisting Walsh on-field will be linesman Frank Connor and Alistair Taylor. Manning VAR duties at Clydesdale House is Kevin Clancy with Alan Mulvanny taking up the role as AVAR.
Kick-off Time
It’s a good old fashioned 3pm (Celtic Park Time) on a Saturday afternoon for the Celtic v Dundee United match in the Scottish Premiership.
Where to Watch
No PPV from Celtic TV and the match is NOT on Sky Sports as they are at Tynecastle on Sunday as Hearts take on theRangers, who last weekend exited the Scottish Cup at Ibrox with a 1-0 defeat to Queen’s Park. The match is available to watch via Celtic TV for subscribers based outside of Britain and Ireland. There will also be a play-back for all subscribers from 10pm.
Predicted Score
Celtic will get the job done to go 16 points clear with Hearts looking to improve their own dreadful record against theRangers on Sunday afternoon. Celtic to win 3-0, then 2-0 to Hearts…
COYBIG!
Trusty should be putting his feet up for the remainder of the season!
Why not try Taylor in midfield can cut the team up to much Dundee utd players know there job we will see if they give it a go or park the bus spoil the game by waisting time they won’t have a better chance meeting Celtic in between two champion league games against bayern Munich yet they know Celtic can and will cut through them like hot knive through butter does Ridgers put out a strong team and try and get a good lead then change it fitness isn’t a problem it’s mindset of players competing 100/percent in case of injury it’s a subconscious thing it will be interesting I’d say dundee utd will try slow game down time waisting if ref allows fire high balls up the middle and play from there they have big guys in the team so the will have the ball in the air in most of there play