Celtic face St Mirren tonight in a game where Brendan Rodgers will be hoping to pick up three points after his team’s 0-0 draw with Hibs on Saturday.
Celtic allowed Rangers to close the gap at the top of the table to five points at the weekend after drawing a blank at Easter Road and Rodgers will be desperate to get back to winning ways. Especially with a tough visit to Ross County looming.
So who will the Celtic manager look to start? All week I have been advocating that Tomoki Iwata deserves to get his chance in the first-team.
Prior to the Hearts fixture, the 26-year-old had only been used once and TBR Celtic expressed concerns that his future in Paradise could be in doubt.
But after a decent Tynecastle cameo and a goal, Iwata could have played his way into Rodgers’ plans.
Paulo Bernardo will start for Celtic vs St Mirren
The fact that Iwata was an unused sub against Hibs means his chances of starting tonight are very slim. Paulo Bernardo was given the media duties by Celtic yesterday so it looks like he is likely to start.
The Portuguese midfielder had a very good European home debut after being brought on to replace the injured Reo Hatate.
Clearly, he did enough for Rodgers to give him his first start for Celtic in Edinburgh and I think on the strength of his two games against Hibs and Atletico he is likely to continue as Hatate’s replacement for the time being.
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Hyoengyu Oh may get the second half for Celtic vs St Mirren
The Korean needs a prolonged run of minutes on the pitch. At the moment, he is averaging roughly 12 minutes per game.
That’s obviously not enough for anyone to make any material difference in a side. The 22-year-old will be desperate to prove that he has what it takes to make it at Celtic.
And should there be a healthy lead at halftime, I can see Oh being allowed a full 45 minutes to go out and try and grab his first goal of the season under Brendan Rodgers.
Celtic Predicted XI vs St Mirren
Score Prediction: Celtic 4 v 0 St Mirren
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