Celtic return to league duty after the international break with a visit to league cup winners St. Mirren, who we will be forming a ‘guard of honour’ for before the game.
Our last game before the split was of course the 4-3 win over Aberdeen, where we rallied from 3-1 down thanks to a last minute Samaras winner, a win which was really needed after some indifferent performances in the preceding weeks. St. Mirren’s last game was the 3-2 league cup final win over Hearts, where they were dominated for the first 40 minutes but ended up worthy winners.
In team news, Scott Brown, Rogne, Matthews and Forrest are out, with Ledley ’50-50′. Judging by the defensive problems we had against Aberdeen, it would make sense to change the back four, and I would have either Mulgrew or Wanyama – preferably Mulgrew – partnering Wilson at the back. Up front Stokes and Hooper worked well against St. Mirren the last time the teams met so I would start them again. You would think Commons and Samaras would be involved, and Kayal would seem a cert to start due to the injuries in midfield.
As for our opponents, we know all to well how difficult they can be play to play against, with their deserved 3-2 win in the league cup semi final a case in point. This month’s 2-1 Scottish cup win over St. Mirren was also a very tough game and you’d think tomorrow would be the same, Goncalves and Thompson are more than capable of going us problems once more.
As Celtic are only 7 points away from retaining the title, you would think the players and manager would want the title wrapped up as quickly as possible, hopefully this will start tomorrow with a narrow win.
