Hamilton Academical will lock horns with Scottish Premiership holders Celtic tomorrow at the SuperSeal Stadium on the day of Christmas Eve. This season has been so special for the Hoops. They are yet to lose a single domestic game since Rodgers took charge in the summer.
Having already won the League Cup, Celtic’s aim will be to win a domestic treble now and it will be spectacular if they can do that staying invincible. Well, staying unbeaten through a whole season across three competitions is very hard but the Hoops have kept it that way for almost the half of the season. There is no reason why the fans should not be optimistic.
Hamilton suffered a 1-2 home defeat against Rangers and Celtic registered a 1-0 home win against Partick in their previous league encounters.
At the moment, Hamilton are performing much below average. They have secured 2 wins, 10 draws and 6 defeats sitting in the 9th position in the Premiership. They hardly stand a chance against Celtic to be fair but Rodgers’ side cannot afford complacency to set in.
Team news
Hamilton Academical
Hamilton’s Grant Gillespie is suspended for the match while Greg Docherty begins a two-month absence after having surgery on a broken foot but Dan Seaborne is pushing for a return from a foot problem. Gramoz Kurtaj (ankle) and Lennard Sowah (hamstring) are likely to miss the game. Remi Matthews (shoulder) and Jesus Garcia Tena (knee) remain out while Craig Watson is getting closer to returning from his long-term knee injury but both remain unlikely to start the game.
Celtic
Winger James Forrest is coming back from a hamstring injury for Celtic. Aussie attacking Midfielder Tom Rogic and young Scottish left-back Kieran Tierney (both ankle) remain sidelined.
Predicted lineups
Hamilton Academical (4-1-4-1): Woods; Sarris, Devlin, Gillespie, McMann; Donati; Crawford, MacKinnon, Redmond, Imrie; D’Acol
Celtic (4-2-3-1): Gordon; Lustig, Sviatchenko, Simunovic, Izaguirre; Brown, Armstrong; Roberts, McGregor, Sinclair; Griffiths
Key players
Hamilton Academical- Ali Crawford
Crawford has been impressive for Hamilton this season despite his team struggling as a unit. The fleet-footed winger has scored nine times while setting up four from 22 games in all competitions and will test Celtic’s defence.
Celtic: Scott Sinclair
Celtic won narrowly against Partick Thistle with a 1-0 margin in the midweek and it was Sinclair who was on the scoresheet in his first game since returning from injury. The English winger is proving to be an important player for Celtic this season and will be keen to impress once again.
Odds
Hamilton win @12/1
Draw @11/2
Celtic win @1/5
