Celtic head up the A9 to Perth to take on St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday afternoon. The Scottish Champions are nine points ahead of nearest rivals theRangers and have a vastly superior goal difference with 14 games remaining.
With points dropped only at St Mirren last September in a 2-0 defeat and at Ibrox on 2 January in a 2-2 draw, the form that the Hoops have found since the arrival of manager Ange Postecoglou has already delivered one title and with three points on Sunday will take another huge step towards a second consecutive Scottish Premiership triumph. Celtic’s home record this season currently stands at 100% so for those desperately looking for Celtic to slip up the only joy they’ve had this season was that off day in Paisley last September.
It looked like Celtic had dropped two points on the last visit on 8 October when St Johnstone equalised in stoppage time. That though didn’t stop Celtic and Giorgos Giakoumakis gave Celtic all three points with a dramatic winner from the restart. Suppose that’s why we’re Champions…
Team News
Anthony Ralston sits this one out but will be available next weekend for the Scottish Cup match against St Mirren at Celtic Park. Ben Siegrist also is missing with a minor calf injury and he too should be available for the next game.
Ange Postecoglou confirmed this and also that there were no injury concerns after the 3-0 win over Livingston in midweek, at his Media Conference this afternoon, with Joe Hart also speaking to the media. The Celtic manager said:
“Everyone is okay in terms of the guys who participated the other night. Anthony Ralston is training with the main group now but we made the decision this week would be a topping-up week for him to get back to full fitness. We decided Sunday was too soon but he should be ready to go for next week. Benjamin Siegrist has a calf complaint that is nothing serious but will keep him out for Sunday,” Ange Postecoglou
Callum Davidson could hand a St Johnstone debut to Zak Rudden following his move from Dundee and Nicky Clark is available to face Celtic after that disgraceful Willie Collum red card decision at Ibrox last week was overturned. Ryan McGowan misses out with a groin issue while Murray Davidson and Chris Kane are still sidelined.
Predicted Team
We got 10/11 last weekend but dropped down to 9/11 in midweek. Here’s how we think Celtic will line-up at McDiarmid Park.
Hart, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt, Taylor; McGregor (c), Mooy, Hatate, Maeda, Kyogo and Jota.
Incidentally the have a look at the Celtic team that started at McDairmid Park last October against St Johnstone…
Match Officials
David Dickinson has the whistle and his assistants are Calum Spence and Ross Macleod. The fourth official is David Munro and on ludge-VAR duties are Greg Aitken and his assistant David Dunne.
Kick-off Time
The match between St Johnstone and Celtic kicks off at 12 pm (Celtic Park Time).
Where to Watch
Celtic will have both stands behind the goals but will not have the third stand that was recently given to theRangers for the Scottish Cup fourth round match at McDiarmid Park. That decision did not sit well with the St Johnstone fans, many of whom boycotted the match, preferring empty seats to away supporters generating income for their football club. So expect plenty of empty seats on Sunday but none in the two Celtic stands.
St Johnstone v Celtic will be shown live on Sky Sports with coverage beginning at 11am on Sky Sports Football. You can also watch the game on Sky Sports Main Event from kick-off at 12pm. For subscribers based outside Britain and Ireland, the match will also be shown live via Celtic TV, who apparently had Fran Alonso in the studio in midweek.
The Celtic FC Women manager won’t be doing more punditry on Sunday as his side take on Aberdeen in the SWPL1 match at the Excelsior Stadium in Airdrie – where the three January window signings could feature – and that match kicks off at 2.30pm and it’s live on BBC ALBA from 2pm.
So if you are watching the game at St Johnstone on TV, simply switch channels at the final whistle and enjoy back-to-back Celtic action. Two wins and it will be a Super Sunday for the Bhoys and Ghirls – come on both title chasing Celtic teams.
LIVE | Here are this Sunday’s games, including the broadcast matches ⬇📺@GlasgowCityFC v @ThistleWFC | 13:00 KO | via @BBCSportScot@CelticFCWomen v @AberdeenWomen | 14:30 KO | @bbcalba pic.twitter.com/jxAY4VPcyn
— Scottish Women’s Premier League (@SWPL) February 2, 2023
