Lennon’s faith in Pukki
After scoring in his first two appearances the striker hasn’t found the net since scoring against St Johnstone on September 21.
Last week Lennon watched Pukki play for Finland away to France and is likely to select the former Schalke 04 striker tonight to unlock Ajax.
The Pukki-Anthony Stokes partnership hasn’t yet replaced the goals provided by Stokes and Gary Hooper but Lennon sees encouraging signs in his £2.5m signing.
“He played a lot better today,” the Celtic boss said after the 1-1 draw at Hibs. “He should have scored but I was pleased with him, I thought that started the game very very well.
“He needs another goal to get himself going again but he’s adapting to the British game, I was pleased with him.
“When you bring a striker in, especially at Celtic there is a big onus on them to score goals, but I think that the goals will come. As long as he keeps putting himself in the right positions then he’ll get more than his fair share.”
Tonight’s match with Ajax is a must win if Celtic are to emulate last season’s achievement of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League.
Back-to-back games with the Dutch champions will shape Celtic’s destiny for the season with Lennon well aware of the stakes tonight.
“It’s a must-not-get- beat game as I am confident in this team that we can perform away from home as well,” the Celtic boss said.
“Four points would give us a good chance. If we could take four out of six – which is a big ask but doable – we would have a home game against Milan that I think we could win.
“We need to pick up something away from home as we lost a game here.”
Celtic’s u-19 side face Ajax at Livingston today, kick-off 2pm