Celtic face Motherwell this afternoon as the Scottish Champions look to go fifteen points clear. Ange Postecoglou’s side were excellent in the first half against Kilmarnock and will look to prepare for the Scottish Cup Semi Final with a win over the visitors from North Lanarkshire.
While Ange has a few players missing for this game – Reo Hatate, Liel Abada, James Forrest and probably Jota, the Celtic manager still has a number of options at his disposal.
Joe Hart will as usual have the gloves. The defence will likely comprise of Greg Taylor and Alistair Johnston in their usual full-back berths with Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt will make up the tried and tested central defensive pairing.
In midfield, Tomoki Iwata is likely too retain his starting slot after that impressive performance last weekend at Rugby Park and of course Callum McGregor will start. Matt O’Riley got the MOTM accolade last weekend and he too will retain his starting slot in the Celtic midfield.
In attack, Kyogo will lead the line, probably for an hour before being replaced by Oh and the Japanese goalscorer will be joined in the starting eleven by both Sead Hakšabanović and Daizen Maeda.
With Aaron Mooy, David Turnbull and Oh on the bench, Ange will be able to call upon a number of players to help impact the game. Youngsters Rocco Vata and Ben Summers came on against Killie and might fancy time on the pitch today. Other subs today will include Scott Bain, Anthony Ralston, Yuki Kobayashi, Alexandro Bernabei, and Stephen Welsh.
So our predicted Celtic starting XI for today’s match against Motherwell is as follows:
Predicted XI: Hart; Taylor, Starfelt, Carter-Vickers, Johnston; McGregor, Iwata, O’Riley; Maeda, Kyogo, Hakšabanović.
