Leigh Griffiths has passed a fitness test and will face Aberdeen at Pittodrie tonight.
The former Hibs striker opened his hoops scoring account against Hearts on Saturday but was a pre match doubt after picking up a thigh knock at Tynecastle.
Stefan Johansen misses out through injury allowing Charlie Mulgrew to move into midfield with Emilio Izaguirre to return at left-back.
CELTIC TEAM: Forster; Matthews, van Dijk, Ambrose Izaguirre; Brown, Biton, Mulgrew, Commons; Griffiths, Stokes
SUBS Zaluska, Samaras, Boerrigter, Balde, Pukki, Fisher, Forrest
Griffiths partnership with Anthony Stokes has shown signs of promise on recent weeks and will be given the task of finding the net at Pittodrie.
“He’s settled in fine,” Neil Lennon said about Griffiths as he looked ahead to tonight’s match. “Getting the goal will have given him a huge psychological lift.
“He has been brought here to score goals and there is an expectation on him now. He’s playing for the biggest club he’s had in his career now but he’s adapted to it very well and the players around him have made the transition easier for him.
“It will be a weight off his shoulders to get that goal so early in his time here. He’s a goalscorer and if you look at his finish, it was a typical Leigh Griffiths finish.
“He strikes the ball with so little back-lift but with a lot of power and unerring accuracy. We like his movement and his intelligence and I think there is more to come from him.”
Aberdeen ended Celtic’s interest in the Scottish Cup earlier this month but were on the end of a defeat on Saturday when they lost 3-1 away to Partick Thistle.
Lennon isn’t reading too much into that result and is expecting a tough challenge tonight from the Dons.
Looking back on the cup defeat the Celtic boss added: “Those things can happen, it speaks more about what we have done in the league this season than any other team.
“On any given day you can get beat. We had a bad day a couple of weeks ago and it cost us our place in the cup but our league form has been fantastic.
“We have got 12 games to go and we have got a real drive for the players to see us through now.”
How often will we see players rushed back before they are fully fit or asked to play carrying injuries…WHY it simply isn’t needed. Time Lennon realised that some of his favourites are letting him down again & again…doesn’t seem to see it for some obscure reason.
Now we have some games to actually try & LEARN & USE to the clubs best advantage.
I met a friend last week who surprised me by saying how he missed rangers due to the competition they provided.
I told him I am glad they are not darkening our door.
Perhaps Aberdeen will provide competition next year and I hear that they will benefit from a 20 million pound investment from a rich north east oil executive.
Bring it on.
Haw haw haw