Dembele gets OK for Ibrox
Britain Football Soccer - Rangers v Celtic - Scottish Premiership - Ibrox Stadium - 31/12/16 Celtic's Moussa Dembele celebrates scoring their first goal Reuters / Russell Cheyne Livepic EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 45 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.
Moussa Dembele will be available for Saturday’s trip to Ibrox.
After starting his first game of the season in the 4-0 win over Ross County on Saturday the striker was left out of the squad that repeated that scoreline away to Dundee in the League Cup.
It was expected that Dembele would continue his comeback at Dens Park but speaking to Radio Scotland before the match Brendan Rodgers explained the reason for his absence.
“Moussa is back at a good level of fitness but he’s not fully fit,” the Celtic boss explained.
“We just felt it was better to get the hour on Saturday and then have a good training week. He’ll be ready and in the squad for Saturday.”
Rodgers has had to manage his striking options carefully this season with Leigh Griffiths also used sparingly.
The former Hibs striker started last night’s match and is likely to be in from the start at Ibrox on Saturday.
Griffiths was replaced by Odsonne Edouard with five minutes left to play with Celtic leading 2-0 before late strikes from Callum McGregor and James Forrest.