Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic moved 14 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership with a 1-0 win against Partick Thistle in midweek. It was not the most convincing win for the Hoops at all but considering that Rodgers played a relatively weakened XI against the bottom of the table side, it was not the worst result. A young Calvin Miller made his debut in the game and looked quite promising. However, Rodgers is unlikely to select a weakened XI on Saturday when Celtic travel to the SuperSeal Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Celtic will take on Hamilton Academical on Christmas eve and will be looking to present the fans their best possible Christmas gift. The home side are placed ninth on the table but share the same amount of points with the tenth and eleventh-placed sides Dundee and Inverness. Also, they are just one point ahead of bottom-placed Partick Thistle.
On paper, Hamilton do not look capable enough of providing any kind of challenge to Celtic but Rodgers must be aware of the fact that his side do not get complacent.
Here is the predicted Celtic lineup against Hamilton-
Defence
Craig Gordon will keep his place under the bar. He has done really well since taking his number one position back from Dorus de Vries and would be looking for another clean sheet. Cristian Gamboa is likely to continue at right-back after impressing in his last few displays. At the heart of the defence, we can expect to see the partnership of Erik Sviatchenko and Jozo Simunovic. The pair has worked wonders for Celtic this season and will be keen to get a clean sheet against Hamilton. Emilio Izaguirre is likely to take his place back from youngster Miller at the left-back position.
Midfield
Scott Brown will certainly keep his place in the middle of the park. He has been impressive throughout the season in midfield and will want to continue his good run of form. We expect in-form Stuart Armstrong to get his place back in midfield after being rested in the midweek for Liam Henderson. With Tom Rogic likely to miss the game, Callum McGregor should keep his place at number ten.
Attack
James Forrest is still missing with an injury and therefore, we expect Gary Mackay-Steven to get another start on the right. Scott Sinclair showed how crucial he is to Celtic in his comeback game scoring the winner and will keep his place on the left flank. Moussa Dembele started in the midweek ahead of Leigh Griffiths and failed to find the back of the net for the sixth game running. Therefore, we expect Griffiths to start up front ahead of him.
