With the winter shutdown now over, Celtic return to Scottish Premiership action tonight with a long awaited under the lights meeting with Shaun Maloney’s Hibs side at Celtic Park.
Celtic head into this game with a chance to cut the gap at the top of the league to three points, with victory over Hibernian, while theRangers then face a tough journey to the North East 24 hours later to face an Aberdeen side, and of course former Captain Scott Brown, who drew 2-2 at Ibrox the last time the sides met, having led 2-0 including a goal from Broony, prior to being pegged back via the usual Honest Mistakes routine.
No easy task then for theRangers, but to ramp up the pressure Celtic need to take care of business tonight against an opponent who gave the Hoops plenty to think about before ultimately surrendering a 1-0 lead to lose the League Cup Final last month.
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No Kyogo or Turnbull and Jota’s unlikely to be involved
For Celtic, the star of that Hampden victory Kyogo Furuhashi is highly unlikely to be fit for tonight, and Jota, despite returning to full training this week, may be seen as a gamble not worth taking so early in his own recovery from a similar hamstring injury to Kyogo. Add to that the continuing absence of David Turnbull and Celtic’s attacking options would normally seem to be lacking.
However Celtic have been busy in the transfer market to try and alleviate the pressure on their attacking players in particular, and all three new signings, Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and Yosuke Ideguchi are likely to either start or take a place on the bench. Given they were signed early to ensure they could train with their teammates prior to the season restarting, tonight may be the first game where all three signings make their much-anticipated debuts. Celtic’s attacking options are also bolstered with the news Greek striker Giorgos Giakoumakis, a player who has not had his own fitness troubles to seek, is back up to speed and available for selection.
Weakened Hibs missing key players
Tonight’s opponents are already without two of their first pick defenders with both Ryan Porteous and Paul McGinn suspended and cannot include Ewen Henderson for his debut, as part of his initial loan deal prior to signing permanently in the summer ensures he is unavailable for selection against his parent club.
Meanwhile Maloney has also confirmed three further new signings, Elias Melkersen and Chris Mueller will also be unavailable for selection as will Harry Clarke, who impressed with Ross County earlier in the season, as the former Arsenal youth recovers from a hamstring injury. Rocky Bushiri and Dylan Tait however both could feature.
This evening then seems to be the perfect time to face a Hibs side who will clearly be further strengthened in future weeks with new signings and those suspended being available for selection, so it’s vital Celtic take advantage of a weakened opponent and improved options available to manager Ange Postecoglou, due to timely work completed in the January transfer window and players slowly but surely returning from injury.
Shaun Maloney’s footballing philosophy
This should be an open game as despite lacking in key personnel, Shaun Maloney’s footballing philosophy is unlikely to be surrendered to adopt a park the bus tactical approach, instead with attacking flair in Martin Boyle and Kevin Nisbet in their ranks they are likely to try and flex their attacking muscles this evening.
Take that option however and Celtic will have room to play, and with new signings keen to impress this could be a cracking encounter at Celtic Park with plenty of goals and the tantalising possibility of one of Celtic’s new signings making an instant impression.
A win for Celtic would certainly transfer the pressure to the other side of the city ahead of their trip to face Aberdeen – and Scott Brown. And our tile rivals are historically a side who waver under pressure. Indeed, their own captain took to his programme notes to confirm his side struggles when the stress builds. As such it’s down to Celtic tonight to take care of business tonight against Hibs and ensure theRangers questionable mentality is in turn put under the microscope tomorrow night.
Niall J
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🏟️ Move to seating deck— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) January 15, 2022
“We are over the moon having the fans back. It is not the same playing with 500 fans or no fans last year. So to have the full stadium – we’re really pleased.” – Greg Taylor pic.twitter.com/icxZJc5AUz
— 🍀 Celtic1967.com 🍀 (@Celtic1967_com) January 17, 2022
And for those who missed this one on The Celtic Star, here’s a catch-up chance to check out the photographs given to this site by the former Celtic Director Tom Grant of the demolition of the old Celtic Park and in its place the emergence of the New Celtic Park which we know and love today. These photographs are fascinating and well worth checking out on the link below…
READ THIS…Exclusive – A Phoenix Rising, a House of Steel. Celtic Park Redevelopment Photographs
