Celtic will look to bounce back from their latest defeat when they face off against Partick Thistle on Thursday night at Celtic Park in Glasgow. The Hoops saw their 69 matches unbeaten domestic streak come to an end when they lost 4-0 away to Heats of Midlothian on Sunday in the Scottish Premiership. Brendan Rodgers’ men will hope to return to winning ways against Partick Thistle who currently sit rock bottom of the league. The Glaswegian outfit will now look to extend their lead at the top to five points with rivals Rangers closing in on them.
Celtic will hope to start a fresh run against the Jags with the club’s assistant manager claiming that one defeat shouldn’t come in the way of what has been a successful season for the club so far. Brendan Rodgers is expected to opt for his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation and might recall star striker Moussa Dembele back into the starting lineup. The recent history of the fixture doesn’t make good reading for the Jags as Celtic are unbeaten in their last 10 encounters with Partick Thistle, winning 9 of those 10 matches.
4-2-3-1 Celtic Predicted Lineup To Face Partick Thistle
Defence
Craig Gordon is expected to resume his duties in the Celtic goal and might be protected by a back four of Mikael Lustig at right-back, Jozo Šimunović and Dedrick Boyata in central defence and Kieran Tierney on the left side of the backline.
They have only conceded 15 goals in 18 league matches and after the horror show at Hearts last Sunday, Rodgers will hope that his defenders can bounce back by keeping a clean sheet against the Jags on Thursday night.
Midfield
Scott Brown and Olivier Ntcham will once again be used as holding midfielders who will be responsible to protect their backline while also linking up play with the attackers. Scott Sinclair, who is Celtic’s top scorer this season is expected to start on the left flank while James Forrest starts on the right-hand side of the midfield. Callum McGregor is expected to operate just behind Moussa Dembele in an attacking midfield role.
Attack
Moussa Dembele is set to return to the starting lineup and will be desperate for a goal following his poor run of form of late. His last goal in the league was against St. Johnstone in the first week of November and the striker has failed to find the back of the net since then.
It’s high time he got back to goal-scoring for the Hoops and Partick Thistle who has shipped in 34 goals in 18 league matches might be an ideal opponent for him to regain some confidence.
