Celtic travel to Ibrox this afternoon for their second clash in a fortnight with their Glasgow rivals. There hasn’t been much of a rivalry this season, Celtic’s title defence crashed early doors and without fans in the stadiums, the derby games are as ordinary as any other.
That been said Celtic had a chance to bloody the nose of their rivals last time out but failed as they limped out of their Scottish Cup defence after a 0-2 defeat. St Johnstone did Celtic a favour in the next round by eliminating the Rangers on penalties to make sure a double was not achievable for Gerrard’s team.
Rewards wise there is nothing on the table today in this league clash for Celtic with the league long over. The Ibrox team has gone unbeaten all season in the league but really that shouldn’t bring too much joy to a club that has just won a quadruple treble months ago.
Don’t get us wrong, we will be praying for a win today but in the grand context of things, there is a mountain of work to be done at Paradise before next season starts.
John Kennedy has a James Forrest option today who has made a massive impact to Celtic’s attack since his return from a long-term injury. Most of this team picks itself as the interim manager never seems to spring too many surprises with his selections and is basically picking the same team Neil Lennon did.
Laxalt had a nightmare in the last derby and he was turned inside out for one of the Ranger’s goals. We expect Greg Taylor to get the nod today. JonJoe Kenny wasn’t much better on the other wing but he might just benefit from a lack of options for his position. He owes the Hoops a decent derby day performance.
On the other side defender Jack Simpson is set to make his Old Firm debut after Filip Helander was ruled out for the remainder of the season. Leon Balogun and long-term casualty Nikola Katic are also unavailable while Scott Arfield sat out the spot-kick defeat to Saints with an ankle knock and has also been told his season is over.
With the teams just announced via the club’s official channels, here is how the Celtic team will line up today in what will be Scott Brown’s last Glasgow derby.
CELTIC:
Bain; Taylor, Brown, Turnbull, Kenny, Edouard, Elyounoussi, Ajer, McGregor, Forrest, Welsh
Subs:Â Barkas, Bitton, Griffiths, Ajeti, Soro, Christie, Johnston, Ralston, Laxalt
John Kennedy makes two changes to the side which drew 1-1 against Aberdeen last week.
James Forrest returns from the injury he sustained against Falkirk last month, while Kris Ajer re-enters the starting XI having been rested for the Hoops’ trip to Pittodrie 11 days ago.
Today’s derby will be live on Sky Sports with kick-off 12 pm.
