Celtic are currently firing on all cylinders, but they lack attacking options beyond Odsonne Edouard who has been terrific so far this season. Vakoun Issou Bayo is also now out with an injury. However, Lennon will receive some respite as Leigh Griffiths recently gave an update on Instagram (Via Scottish Sun) that he is back in training.
A year of woes for Griffiths
An injury to Edouard at this stage of the season could prove disastrous for Lennon, and he would surely want someone like Griffiths to reach his best level soon. The experienced striker has had a tough time this year. He had earlier decided to take some time off football due to personal and mental health issues which saw him miss the second half of last season entirely.
He came back to prepare for the ongoing season and featured in some of the earlier games of the campaign. The Scotsman did bag three goals in eight appearances, but he looked quite rusty and far from his best. His work rate and incisive movement in the attacking third were lacking. Lennon even started preferring Vakoun Issouf Bayo over him as the other option, and there were indications that Griffiths might have fallen down the pecking order at Parkhead.
Injuries also didn’t help his cause, and he missed quite a few weeks of action. It remains to be seen now whether Griffiths will be able to get back to his best after a stop-start year of football. There was a time when some section of the fans believed that Griffiths should be the first choice striker over Edouard, but the Frenchman has overtaken the more experienced striker at this point.
Why are Rangers better placed than Celtic in terms of the striking department?
The gulf in quality between Edouard and others is quite vast at the moment, and as a result, Lennon has had to use the French striker in almost all of the matches so far. On the other hand, Rangers have been lucky as the arrival of Jermain Defoe has taken some burden off Alfredo Morelos. Defoe has been so good that he is the current top scorer in the Premiership. That is one place where Rangers have a significant advantage as Gerrard has been able to rotate between his two strikers.
It is detrimental for Lennon to keep Edooaurd fit for the rest of the season. Griffiths is an experienced campaigner who has got over 100 Celtic goals to his name so he shouldn’t be counted out entirely at the moment. Hopefully from Celtic’s point of view, he will soon find his footing after he resumed training recently. For now, it is undoubtedly a boost for Lennon as he can have the option of deploying Griffiths up front.
