Two careless losses in the last three games to teams in the lower half have damaged our second place ambitions and with only five games remaining any further slippage would be costly. Preparations for this encounter will take place with one eye on the Friday night game when Aberdeen play in Inverness.
Motherwell 3 Cetic 1, April 2013
It's not yet known how many of our players will have recovered fully from the knocks and strains that were carried to the field over the last few weeks but it is certain that we'll not be at full strength. Keith Lasley received his sixth booking of the season in the recent game against Kilmarnock and he'll serve a one match suspension on Saturday. Our captain has played in all 37 matches and we'll miss his graft. His midfield partner for much of the season will also miss out. It was confirmed that Carswell needs surgery on his knee and we won't see him in action for the rest of the campaign.
Huchinson’s training session injury a fortnight ago caused him to miss the St Mirren game and we’ll need him back to partner McManus in the centre of the back four. We had an early lead in Paisley with Anier and Sutton scoring and we can expect the pair to lead the line. McFadden hasn’t made an appearance for almost a month; can he make a triumphant return?
Celtic have racked up a goal difference of 66 in the 33 league games played to date – that’s an average of a two goal win in every fixture. Only 1 loss and 4 draws stand against their 28 wins. It’s hardly a surprise that they are odds on to win at Fir Park. Their three wins over us so far give them a 10-0 aggregate. It’s clear that we need them to have an unusually bad performance if we are to take anything from the game. Our opponents are likely to give an outing to some of their lesser star names as they “look at tweaking the system a little bit” in the words of their manager.
The depth and quality of their squad is well beyond our reach but we beat them in similar circumstances a year ago and the players must believe that an upset is possible. However, if the head rules the heart we might be pleased to escape with a 2-1 loss.
Have your say on the messageboard.