Celtic need one more win to secure the Scottish Premiership title for the seventh season in a row, but which players will take to the field.
Celtic delivered an excellent performance last weekend against Rangers which saw them keep their second consecutive treble-winning season hopes alive as they reached the Scottish Cup final after a 4-0 demolition of Graeme Murty’s men.
Once again, Rangers were simply unable to match Celtic in midfield, as Hoops generals Scott Brown and Olivier Ntcham set the pace in an utterly dominant performance.
The Hoops will now face a tougher ask this weekend, however, as they face a trip to Neil Lennon’s Hibs, who have nearly got the better of them on two occasions already this season.
Should Hibs win, Celtic will have to wait until next week when they host Rangers at Celtic Park, which could see them clinch the title against their arch rivals.
Nevertheless, given their form in the important games of the season, you would back Brendan Rodgers and his payers to get it right at Easter Road, and it is hard to overlook the Bhoys finally clinching the league title this weekend.
With no new injuries, the Celtic team will most likely lineup as follows:
Craig Gordon should retain his position between the sticks as clearly Rodgers’ first-choice goalkeeper. The back four of Kieran Tierney, Kristoffer Ajer, Dedryk Boyata and Mikael Lustig should remain unchanged as well.
The midfield duo of Scott Brown and Olivier Ntcham, who have been instrumental in the club’s successes this season, will continue their good work in the middle of the park, with Tom Rogic in the central attacking position behind the striker.
James Forrest, arguably Celtic’s player of the season, should line up on the right, while Scott Sinclair will likely come in for Callum McGregor on the left. Rodgers opted to deploy four central midfielders in his starting line-up against Rangers, to ensure things were kept tight in the middle of the pitch but, with the game no longer being a knockout fixture, the need for this will be less so.
Finally, Leigh Griffiths will likely get a shot at starting against his boyhood club, with Moussa Dembele starting from the bench to give the Frenchman some rest ahead of the Rangers game the following week.
Griffiths is now just two goals shy of a century for Celtic and, should he start this weekend, could definitely reach that figure at Easter Road.
Here is the predicted 4-2-3-1 line-up in full:
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