Chris Sutton thinks Neil Lennon’s hand will be forced on Saturday when it comes his strikers and there’s only one real option to start the match — Patryk Klimala.
Albian Ajeti is just coming back from injury, Odsonne Edouard has had to isolate until the eve of the game and Leigh Griffiths has not played much football at all yet this season.
It leaves Klimala as the only for striker, the youngsters played 81 minutes for the Polish under 21s on Wednesday night and ended up with an assist from blasting a shot at the goalkeeper who could only parry it into one of his teammates for the goal.
Speaking on the Daily Record podcast, Chris Sutton thinks the striker is improving and he is the only real option come Saturday afternoon.
“It’s interesting isn’t it. Neil Lennon could have those three players on the bench, but we can’t honestly say they’ll be up to speed fitness-wise. That’s just not going to be the case.
“So I think, at this moment in time, Neil’s hand looks like it’s pretty much forced into playing Klimala. If I’m honest, when I first saw Klimala, I didn’t think that he was anywhere near up to the mark. But he’s growing on me and I think he’s growing on the Celtic fans. They know they’re going to get a good, honest shift in, they know that he can be nuisance value.
“I think his finishing can improve, but I like how he’s improving in a Celtic jersey. So if you’re asking me at this moment in time who is going to start up top, I think it will be Patryk Klimala.”
The other three could all sit on the bench and come on when needed. It’s a big call for the striker to make — the Celtic gaffer must be sure of his selection.
The game kicks off at 12:30pm on Saturday.
Patrick is probably the fittest of all The Striker options we have available for this game , 2 of the other 3 on the subs bench