It’s got to the point where the league should just stop scheduling fixtures for Celtic whenever there’s a cup final the same weekend.
The original league fixture away to St Johnstone was originally due to be played on December 8, but obviously the Betfred Cup final against the Rangers takes priority so a new date has been found.
As confirmed on Saints’ official Twitter, the game is now due to be played on Wednesday, January 29 at 19:45:
REARRANGED FIXTURE ⚽️| The SPFL has this afternoon confirmed the rearranged date for our Ladbrokes Premiership clash with Celtic.
🆚 @CelticFC
🗓 Wednesday 29th January 2020
🕣 7:45PM
🏟 McDiarmid Park➡️ https://t.co/SDEOLgFJe8 pic.twitter.com/Zv8V5xyRIL
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) November 6, 2019
It’s hard to tell if the new date comes as a positive to Celtic or not. If they tried to squeeze it in this year then it could result in a crazy fixture pile up in December, but it’s probably a good time to play Tommy Wright’s men.
They’ve got a couple of decent results recently but the defence is such an obvious weakness right now. There’s a chance that it gives them January to reinforce the team, so it could be a harder trip than anticipated.
Despite that, there’s also a good chance that Neil Lennon might be able to strengthen his squad and blow Saints away when they meet.
It looks like every point could be critical this season, so it will be interesting to see what shape both teams are in when they meet in January. Celtic won 7-0 on the opening day of the season, but it might not be so easy this time.