In just a few short hours we could have a much better idea of who’ll be lifting the Scottish Premiership title this season.
Celtic and Rangers play the last league derby of the season at Celtic Park with the Bhoys hot favourites to pick up the three points required. Avoiding defeat will put the Bhoys on the brink of the silverware.
Brendan Rodgers has no injury concerns heading into this one. After Daizen Maeda’s return last week, the Celtic boss has all of his big hitters to make this final title race push.
That’s in contrast to Philippe Clement. He could be forced to field a makeshift defence after injuries sustained by Connor Goldson and Leon Balogun. Ben Davies, who last started a match in December, could be thrust into the spotlight alongside John Souttar.
What team will Rodgers go with to try and punish the visitors? Here’s our best go at today’s eleven.
Potential Celtic team vs Rangers
Joe Hart is just a handful of games away from retirement but, as journalist Henry Winter noted in Celtic training, is full of as much enthusiasm as his career debut.
Rodgers will go with a settled defensive line of Greg Taylor, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Liam Scales and Alistair Johnston. They kept a clean sheet last week and there’s no reason to change it up for this one with nobody providing enough competition from the fringes.
Callum McGregor was back on form against Hearts and will captain the side with Reo Hatate and Matt O’Riley his likely midfield partners. As pointed out by Chris Sutton, it will be the first time this trio have started together against Rangers this season.
The big call from Rodgers will come on the flanks. Which winger pairing will he go with? Daizen Maeda will likely start, meaning one of Nicolas Kuhn and James Forrest will drop out. For me, Forrest is the man to go with. He has the confidence and the glint in his eye now – he knows what it takes to win these derbies.
The only argument against that is if Rodgers feels both Maeda and Forrest will be unable to complete a full 90 minutes. If that’s the case, Forrest may well be better suited to impacting the match in the second half.
Kyogo Furuhashi will be looking to score his eighth goal against Rangers and warmed up with a double last weekend. If he’s on form, Rangers’ defence will be worried. Adam Idah is on hand to disrupt things after the interval if needed.
Your Predicted XI in full is: Hart, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor, McGregor, O’Riley, Hatate, Forrest, Maeda, Kyogo.
