Luis Palma will give Celtic a boost on Sunday when they go to St Johnstone, but no other injured players will be returning.
Although Palma was suspended for Tuesday night’s UEFA Champions League match against Lazio, he might start Tuesday night’s Scottish Premiership encounter in Perth.
Reo Hatate, Liel Abada, and Daizen Maeda are still sidelined, but Brendan Rodgers has stated that there are no additional injury worries following the midweek matchup with Rome.
In addition to giving that update during today’s press conference, he urged his players to pose a greater danger against Craig Levein’s team than they did in last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Motherwell.
“The demand is to win every game,” stated the Celtics manager [Celtic YouTube]. We didn’t have the best outcome last weekend. We still had the opportunity to produce more and play with a faster tempo and more speed in our game, even though we could have and should have won.
It’s been a great few days of training. Tomorrow, we’ll finish all our preparations. The matchup versus St Johnstone will be comparable. Craig has gone and organized them with his experience. They’ll mount a strong, mass defense. To go over that, we need to have the tempo, the quality, and the quickness in our game.
St Johnstone’s goal is to cause Celtic frustration.
As Rodgers states, the host team’s defensive strategy this weekend will surely be centered on trying to keep Celtic from scoring. There won’t likely be much of an attacking goal, at least not at first.
Since Levein’s appointment in early November, Saints have recorded three victories, one tie, and one loss. Their hardest test to yet will be this weekend, and Celtic must demonstrate that during the ninety minutes.
For the Bhoys and their attempt to hold onto the crown, this is a crucial month. The heat is on as Rangers, who are currently in second place, take on St Mirren at home later on Sunday afternoon.