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Neil Lennon names five more Ibrox starters

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Neil Lennon has namechecked five players for Ibrox on Saturday to add to his decision to play Vasilis Barkas in goals.

The hoops boss has started with the same front six over the last three matches but has left it open to make one change which could see Scott Brown return to the side.

Lennon has raised concerns about Leigh Griffiths’ fitness as recently as after the Scottish Cup Final but has selected the Scotland striker for each of the last three matches.

Looking towards Saturday’s match RTE reports Lennon saying:

You don’t want to lose it, you want to get a positive result, either three points or a point. We are not even contemplating losing the game, we are going there with a positive frame of mind and we have to play, and we have to play a lot better than we did here in October.

We have Christie, Edouard, Griffiths, Turnbull, Soro, they are all available to play so hopefully that will give us a real spark going into this game. We are playing well, everybody is fit, available and there is good competition for places.

We are creating a lot of chances which we hadn’t been doing in that (poor) spell and we have been looking a lot more assured at the back, so the players have found their rhythm. I wouldn’t say I am relaxed about it, you never are going into a game like this but we are looking forward to it.

If Griffiths isn’t in the starting XI it would seem that Brown would be the more likely replacement in an attempt to strengthen the Celtic midfield.

When the two clubs met in October Lennon was very short of options with none of the five players listed in the team that kicked off although Turnbull and Griffiths came off the bench in the second half.

Media conferences can be at unusual times during the festive period with the team not being announced with 11.15am on Saturday.

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