Premiership giants Celtic will be looking to get back to winning ways this weekend when they welcome Motherwell to Celtic Park in the Premiership. Having recently suffered a gutting Champions League defeat at the hands of Hungarian champions Ferencvaros, Neil Lennon’s men will be eager to ensure that their season gets back on track this Saturday night, as they’ve now been left to possibly fulfil their European ambitions in the Europa League. The qualifying rounds have been an issue for Celtic for a while now, but this defeat to the European minnows came as a fairly hefty surprise.
Celtic’s last league outing saw them run out 1-0 winners against newly-promoted Dundee United after Swiss striker Albian Ajeti scored his first goals for the Scottish club. Despite going into the European clash on the back of handing out a 6-0 drubbing in the last round of the competition, they were unable to take advantage of a positive situation. Having played two matches less than a majority of the other teams in the league, Celtic currently find themselves in 4th place on the table, trailing leaders Rangers by six points.
Team News
One of the biggest shocks of midweek came in the form of an unfortunate and untimely thigh injury to French striker Odsonne Edouard. Jeremie Frimpong was also rested, but that was probably because Lennon felt that Hatem Abd Elhamed deserved a league start. Despite having a couple of alternate striking options to choose from, Lennon opted to deploy Ryan Christie in a central role, and it’s safe to say that it never looked like it was going to work out. Kristoffer Ajer was brought back into the heart of the defence for the midweek fixture, and the Norwegian did a decent job as well.
Here Is The Predicted 4-2-3-1 Celtic Lineup Vs Motherwell:
Predicted 4-2-3-1 Celtic Lineup Vs Motherwell
Defence
Vasilis Barkas was nothing short of rock-solid in between the sticks for Celtic until the midweek defeat against Ferencvaros in the Champions League. The stopper was caught out on two occasions, with the second strike finding it’s way into the net through his legs as well. Despite this, expect the Greek stopper to retain his place. Christopher Jullien and Kristoffer Ajer are likely to continue as the centre-halves, while Jeremie Frimpong and Greg Taylor operate out of the full-back roles.
Midfield
The midfield combination of Scott Brown and Callum McGregor has consistently yielded positive results for Neil Lennon’s team over the last couple of seasons, but the midweek European encounter was a rare exception. Brown, as good as he actually was in possession, misplaced a flurry of passes that he should have delivered securely. Callum McGregor was trying really hard to make things happen as well, albeit with no end-product in sight. The duo is expected to keep their place in the core of Neil Lennon’s setup though.
Attack
Neil Lennon’s decision to start the midweek game without a recognised striker on the pitch was received with massive criticism. Not only did it affect the end result, but it also meant that all of their attacking play was limited to the spaces around the outside of the well-drilled Ferencvaros back-line. Albian Ajeti is hence expected to come into the starting eleven for this tie, with speedster James Forrest likely to drop down to the bench. Ryan Christie and Mohamed Elyounoussi will continue in the wide roles, with Olivier Ntcham operating in the number ten slot.
