It’s a massive day in the Scottish Premiership title race with one contender at least guaranteed to drop points in a double header of games starting with Celtic away to Kilmarnock before theRangers entertain current league leaders Hearts at Ibrox.
There was no media conference from Celtic ahead of this game, with Martin O’Neill’s post match conference after the midweek win over Livingston having to suffice, although Shaun Maloney also did a Sky Sports interview after that game as Celtic passed on their usual preview interview with Sky Sports ahead of a live broadcast. Sky Sports did hear from the managers of Kilmarnock, theRangers and Hearts ahead of their broadcast of both matches this afternoon.
Celtic Team News
Celtic will more than likely have Arne Engels added to the list of injured players this afternoon. That list includes Alistair Johnston, Cameron Carter-Vickes, Jota and young Callum Osmand.
Today expect Kasper Schmeichel to be in goals behind a back four of Julian Araujo, Auston Trusty, Liam Scales and Kieran Teirney. In the middle of the park the Celtic captain Callum McGregor will be joined by Benjamin Nygren and Luke McCowan and the front three we reckon will be Yang, Tomas Cvancara and Sebastian Tounekti.
The bench for Celtic at Rugby Park will look something like this: Sinisalo; Saracchi, Arthur, Donovan, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Bernardo, Hatate, Adamu, Maeda and Forrest.
That would leave the following fit players not in the squad: Doohan; Murray, Ralston, Balikwisha, Iheanacho, and Mvuka.
Predicted Celtic Team (4-3-3)
Celtic XI: Schmeichel; Araujo, Trusty, Scales, Tierney; McGregor (c), Nygren, McCowan; Yang, Cvancara and Tounekti.
Match Officials
The Scottish FA have confirmed the appointment of referee Duncan Nicolson for the Kilmarnock v Celtic match at Rugby Park. Nicholson has taken charge of one Celtic game this season, a 1-0 win over Dundee before Martin O’Neill made way for Wilfried Nancy’s disastrous spell.
Scott Anderson and Alastair Taylor will assist Nicolson this afternoon while Greg Aitken is the VAR over at Clydesdale House. Aitken will have Chris Graham assisting him.
Kick-off Time
The Scottish Premiership match between Kilmarnock and Celtic kicks off at 2pm this afternoon – Sunday 15 February 2026.
Where to Watch
Kilmarnock v Celtic is live on Sky Sports Football with the pre-match build-up starting at 1pm. Subscribers to Celtic TV based outside of Britain and Ireland will be able to stream the match live and highlights will be shown on BBC Scotland channel at 7pm and repeated on BBC One Scotland later this evening.
Celtic TV will show the full match in a delayed streaming later as usually happens. That’s available to all subscribers including those based in Britain and Ireland.
Predicted Score
Celtic need to get the job done against the Ayrshire that who have won their last two home matches against Aberdeen and St Mirren, scoring six goals in the process. In Neil McCann they have a manager who would like to do both theRangers and Hearts a favour ahead of their game kicking off.
Celtic though know that winning games like these matter as we enter the business end of the season. Expect Celtic to win 2-0 with goals from the captain and Tomas Cvancara.
COYBIG
Last chance to grab your copy of Invincible, signed by Matt Corr
Last remaining copies of Matt Corr’s brilliant debut book ‘Invincible’ are now being sold on our bookstore or just £10 plus postage. And please note we only charge postage on the first book in our order so you can order others for just a tenner each postage free. Invincible is a brilliant read covering that awesome season that ended in spectacular fashion at Hampden in the Scottish Cup final….
Stocks are very low on Invincible so if you want it in your Celtic book collection today would be a good time to order! Visit celticstarbooks.com to get your copy of INVINCIBLE.
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