Brendan Rodgers has made EIGHT changes to the Celtic side that beat Sevco on Sunday for tonight’s clash with Ross County tonight.
Craig Gordon, Mikael Lustig and Erik Sviatchenko are the only players to retain their places with the entire midfield and forward positions changed.
Rodgers has constantly talked up the quality of depth of his squad with Emilio Izaguirre and Ryan Christie starting their first league match of the season with Leigh Griffiths starting his first game in two months.
The former Hibs striker has been pleading to get the chance to play alongside Moussa Dembele but instead has been given the sole striker role, supported by Patrick Roberts, Liam Henderson and Christie.
As an insurance policy Dembele, Scott Sinclair, Tom Rogic and James Forrest are among the substitutes with Scott Brown and Jozo Simunovic left out of the squad with one eye on Saturday’s match against Aberdeen.
Anticipating the changes to his side Rodgers said: “All along I have said it will about the squad this season and Sunday was a great example. Leigh and Stuart Armstrong haven’t played so much recently but they came into the game and picked up the tempo and the speed of the game straight away, and that’s because they have been working tirelessly in training.
“There is a real intensity into how they have been working and that gives them every chance to come into a game and perform really well. If they didn’t have that, and if we didn’t have the collective spirit here to do well, then it would probably make it even harder for us.
“The players who haven’t been playing have been a great credit to the image we are trying to create here, collectively as a team and they will get the benefits of that over the course of the season.”
CELTIC: Gordon, Gamboa, Lustig, Sviatchenko, Izaguirre, Armstrong, McGregor, Roberts, Christie, Henderson, Griffiths
SUBS: De Vries, Bitton, Dembele, Sinclair, Rogic, O’Connell, Forrest.
CLICK HERE to watch highlights of Celtic 1-0 Sevco
CLICK HERE to see the penalty that incensed Derek McInnes
