Top of the table Celtic will travel to Tulloch Caledonian Stadium on Sunday to take on lowly-placed Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Sunday. The Hoops had a 100% start to the Premiership campaign beating Hearts, St. Johnstone, Aberdeen and Rangers so far. Brendan Rodgers’ side have been absolutely amazing in the Premiership so far and have scored as many as 15 goals in four games having conceded just five. However, the team morale will be down following embarrassing their 7-0 loss to Barcelona in the midweek in the Champions League.
Rodgers has to ensure that the big defeat in the premier club competition in Europe does not affect his side’s confidence. Inverness look like a cakewalk for Celtic at least on paper. The Pride of the Highlands have won just one game this season and have drawn just one losing the other three. However, their win was against high-flying St. Johnstone and they are on the back of a 1-1 against Aberdeen. So, ideally saying they are in a decent shape right now despite just one place and one point above of bottom of the table Partick Thistle.
Here is the predicted Celtic lineup against Inverness.
Defence
Dorus de Vries will keep his place under the bar despite conceding seven against Barcelona on Tuesday. The Dutchman is technically a sweeper keeper and Rodgers rates him higher than Craig Gordon which is evident. Kolo Toure and Erik Sviatchenko are likely to keep their places at the heart of the defence while Mikael Lustig and Kieran Tierney will keep their places in the two full-back positions.
Midfield
Scott Brown and Nir Bitton will retain their respective places in the middle of the park. The duo did not fare well against Barcelona but when Messi, Suarez, Neymar and Iniesta all play out of their skin, we cannot really blame anyone can we?
Tom Rogic was lively against Rangers and will definitely start against Inverness on Sunday. James Forrest was benched for Manchester City loanee Patrick Roberts against Barcelona but the youngster hardly impressed. We can expect Forrest back into the starting XI on the right flank. Scott Sinclair looks like a certain starter on the left.
Attack
Leigh Griffiths missed the last two games with injury and is not likely to be risked to the starting XI even if he becomes fully fit for the Inverness game. Moussa Dembele will continue up front. The young Frenchman missed a penalty against Barcelona but was sensational against Rangers last week with a hat-trick.
