It’s basically a win or bust day for Celtic as we head back to the City of Discovery chasing our first win of the season up in Tayside after three defeats, twice as Tannadice and once back in October at Dens Park…
Martin O’Neill talked about this at pre-match mainstream media conference on Friday afternoon, with the Celtic fans media still excluded by a club frightened of any real scrutiny from the supporters.
“I’ve just been reminded that all three Celtic managers this season have lost in Dundee,” Martin said. “so we’ll try and rectify that!
“I think we’re looking forward to it, but we know how difficult it’s going to be and we’ve got to be ready for it. We made a lot of mistakes in our last game and you learn. I don’t think we adjusted well enough to the conditions and that’s down to us.
“We have the belief. Do I have belief in the team? Absolutely, and the team have belief in themselves. We had a setback so we have to put it to the side, get geared up for the game and be ready for a strong match.
“Dundee have been very competitive and they played very well against us at our place in the cup. I expect a really difficult game and that will be case. It will be hard for us.”
Celtic Team News
Arne Engels could return this afternoon providing Celtic will a better balance in the middle of the park, he’s however likely to be on the bench. Auston Trusty is good to go despite some concerns earlier in the week that he’s suffered an injury in the USA’s friendly against Portugal.
Alistair Johnston has suffered a setback on his final day training with the Canadian national side that has pushed his return back while Colby Donovan has recovered from his knock at Tannadice when he collided with the advertising hoardings.
Callum Osmand could make the bench this afternoon to provide a much needed goalscoring instinct to the Celtic attack.
Predicted Celtic Team
Viljami Sinisalo, who had a long trip to New Zealand with Finland in the international break, will have the gloves. Colby Donovan and Kieran Tierney will be the Celtic full-backs while the tried and tested central defensive partnership of Auston Trusty and Liam Scales will be back for the title run-in.
In the middle of the park the Celtic captain Callum McGregor will be joined by Benjamin Nygren – still on a high after helping Sweden make the World Cup Finals during the week – will most likely be joined by Reo Hatate.
It’s the forward areas where there is real concern and while there’s a strong argument to listen to John Hartson’s advice and opt to start James Forrest on the right wing, Yang is likely to retain his place.
On the left wing Sebastian Tounekti should start despite many commentators noting he does his best work coming off the bench. And Daizen Maeda, who is about to release his autobiography, is looking like the most likely option to lead the line for Martin O’Neill’s Celtic side at Dens Park
So our predicted Celtic team is as follows:
Celtic XI: Sinisalo; Donovan, Trusty, Scales, Tierney; McGregor (c), Hatate, Nygren, Yang, Maeda and Tounekti.
Celtic subs: Doohan; Arthur, Ralston, Murray, McCowan, Oxlade Chamberlain, Engels, Cvacara, Forrest, Osmand, Iheanacho
Match Officials
Earlier this week the Scottish FA confirmed that today’s Scottish Premiership match at Dens Park between Dundee FC and Celtic will be refereed by Steven McLean who will be assisted by Calum Spence and Douglas Ross (!). Meanwhile Matthew McDermid will head up the VAR operation and he will be assisted by Chris Graham.
Kick-off Time
Dundee FC v Celtic takes place at Dens Park Dundee and the Scottish premiership match will have a 4.30pm kick off time on Easter Sunday. That is of course CPT*.
Where to Watch
Dundee v Celtic will be available to watch live on Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports HDR. Coverage will begin at 4.15pm following the conclusion of Livingston v Hearts. Live streaming of Dundee v Celtic is also available via the Sky Sports app.
The match is also live on Celtic TV and available to subscribers based outside of Britain and Ireland. There will be a delayed transmission of the game available from around midnight for subscribers based in Britain and Ireland.
Predicted Score
As Conall McGinty pointed out earlier today on The Celtic Star, it doesn’t matter how it’s done all that counts is that Celtic leave Dundee with three points to remain in the title race with just a half dozen games left to play. Goals from Daizen Maeda and Benjamin Nygren to give Celtic an incredibly important 2-0 win.
COYBIG
* Celtic Park Time.
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