It’s the game of the season so far in the Scottish Premiership as Champions Celtic travel to Edinburgh to take on league leaders Hearts with Brendan Rodgers’s side looking for a victory to reduce the Jambos lead to just two points…
Conversely Derek McInnes knows that a victory extends his side’s lead to eight points and will allow the Hearts supporters to start dreaming about a title win for the first time since 1986 when they came within eight minutes of winning the Scottish Premier league title.
Listen to this radio commentary, it is absolutely brilliant….
Celtic Team News
Brendan Rodgers will be without Cameron Carter-Vickers (Achilles), Alistair Johnston (hamstring) and Kelechi Iheanacho (hamstring) with all three suffering injuries on Thursday night in the Europa League.
Jota too is out for the longer term and there’s a slight chance that Daizen Maeda might be available for tomorrow but after the events on Thursday night the Celtic manager is likely to be ultra cautious with his Japanese talisman.
🍀 "Going to Tynecastle at whatever time of the season is always a tough game…"
Brendan Rodgers says Celtic are in a "much better place" ahead of Sunday's clash with Premiership leaders Hearts, live on Sky Sports from 11am ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/XJu0aPVHQc
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) October 24, 2025
Hearts early exit from the League Cup, coupled with their lack of European football this season has clearly given Derek McInnes the advantage of being able to concentrate on the league campaign and he’s certainly made the most of it so far.
Rodgers pointed out yesterday, while speaking to Sky Sports that the three injuries provide opportunities for other players to stake their claim. The Celtic manager has to decide on Antony Ralston or Colby Donovan at right back, Auston Trusty or Dane Murray at right sided centre-half – Murray is right footed but Trusty while being left footed has played well in that position before, most notably against Atalanta in the Champions League in Bergamo.
And for the centre forward position it’s almost certain that Johnny Kenny will lead the line and that Shin Yamada will return to the match-day squad to take a seat on the Celtic bench.
It’s likely that Rodgers will opt for experience at the back so will go with Ralston and Trusty.
⚽️ We've been granted behind the scenes access at Celtic's new training facility at Barrowfield.
Hear Callum McGregor, Anthony Ralston & James Forrest ahead of Sunday's game vs Hearts, live on Sky from 11am ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/bDiumQqUYv
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) October 24, 2025
Predicted Celtic Team to take on Hearts
Three enforced changes from the Celtic side that started against SK Sturm Graz on Thursday night…
CELTIC XI – Schmeichel; Ralston, Trusty, Scales, Tierney; McGregor (c), Engels, Hatate; Nygren, Kenny and Tounekti
Subs: Sinisalo, Saracchi, Murray, Donovan, McCowan, Bernardo, Balikwisha, Shin, Forrest, Yang.
Match Officials
Steven McLean has the whistle and he will assisted by Graeme Stewart and David Roome while Andrew Dallas and David Dickson completes the set and no prizes for guessing the team the majority of that lot support. Celtic will have to win this one the hard way.
Kick-off Time
Just like last weekend at Dens Park it’s a mid-day kickoff at Tynecastle for the Hearts v Celtic match in the Scottish Premiership.
Where to Watch
The game is live on both the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football channels with the build-up starting at 11am. The game will also be streamed live by Celtic TV to subscribers outside of Britain and Ireland and there will be a full play-back later in the day on the club’s own channel for all subscribers. Highlights will be show on Sunday evening on BBC Sportscene and there will also be radio commentary on BBC Sportsound.
Predicted Score
Celtic to deservedly edge a tight match by 2-1 with the goals coming from Hatate and Kenny.
COYBIG
Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter, signed copies by Danny McGrain available from celticstarbooks.com
Don’t miss the chance to purchase the late, great Celtic historian David Potter’s final book. All remaining copies have been signed by the legendary Celtic captain Danny McGrain PLUS you’ll also receive a FREE copy of David Potter’s Willie Fernie biography – Putting on the Style, and you’ll only be charged for postage on one book. Order from Celtic Star Books HERE.
Welcome to our Live Comments section, where new comments will appear automatically
Live Comments