With the international break now upon us, Celtic now have the chance to rest and recoup before the huge Glasgow Derby next month.
The Ibrox clash will certainly be a huge factor when it comes to deciding the title race and Celtic will need all their big hitters fit and available for it.
A win for either side will put them in the driving seat just before the split and BBC pundit, Michael Stewart, has said that if Celtic has five players fit and available, he believes Brendan Rodgers can go to Ibrox and get the win.
Stewart said [Scottish Football Podcast], “The key to Celtic is, and it has been for a large part of the season, is getting the important players back.
“Carter-Vickers comes back and makes a huge difference to their defence. McGregor and Hatate in the middle of the park make a massive difference to their midfield and they need Maeda and Kyogo to be playing like they were playing today.
“And they are all on form and playing like that then I could see them going to Ibrox and getting a result.
“And then obviously, they’ve got the next one at Celtic Park. And those are the games that could make the difference.”
Out of the five, four of the players named have scored against the Ibrox club at some point over the past two seasons.
We all remember Reo Hatate’s piledriver in the 3-0 victory over Rangers that sent Celtic to the top of the table in 2022.
Carter-Vickers hit the winner in the 2-1 Ibrox win in the same season and Kyogo and Meada were both on the scoresheet in the 2-2 New Year draw in 2023.
In fact, Kyogo has scored in the last four Glasgow Derbies that Celtic have won in both the league and Scottish Cup so even just having the Japanese striker finding his shooting boots at this stage of the season is huge for Brendan Rodgers. [Transfermarkt]
Fingers will certainly be crossed that McGregor and Hatate will be fit for Ibrox because with those two at the heart of the Celtic midfield, they will cause Philippe Clement’s side all sorts of trouble.