Ange Postecoglou is quietly confident of having Aaron Mooy and Reo Hatate available for Saturday’s Glasgow derby.
Both regulars were missing from today’s 2-0 win at Ross County with Tomoki Iwata and Matt O’Riley in the side with Callum McGregor pushed into a more advanced role.
Hatate was injured during the first 15 minutes of the win over Hibs on February 18 with Mooy’s last appearance coming a week earlier in the Scottish Cup win away to Hearts.
Tuned into Sky Sports interviewing Postecoglou before today’s match, the Celtic Way reports:
“Hopefully next week,” Postecoglou told Sky Sports when asked if Hatate would be back soon. “Him and Aaron were close but not quite ready. We’ve got a full week after this game and if everything goes well he should be available.”
Liel Abada and Tony Ralston will be out for a few more weeks with Greg Taylor picking up what looked like a knee injury in today’s win over Ross County.
That result restored the nine point gap at the top of the table with Celtic further cushioned by a 27 goal difference advantage.
A win on Saturday would put the hoops 12 points clear with 21 points left to play for, strengthening the prospect of a second successive SPFL title under Postecoglou.