Celtic vs St Mirren match preview
After a challenging outing against Kilmarnock in the ViaPlay Cup semi final Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic return to league action. They welcome St Mirren to Celtic Park and look to maintain the gap at the top of the league table.
It will be a cold wintery clash between the two sides as they are set to compete midweek under the lights. Postecoglou will be confident that the Hoops can keep their unbeaten run going after continuing it in the previous fixture last weekend, as they try to keep a hold of the nine-point gap at the top.
St Mirren are still looking for their first victory in 2023 and are currently sixth in the league table. The main aim for the Buddies will be to get as many positive results as possible to aim for a top six finish in the league and compete for a spot in one of the European competitions.
Celtics fixture at the weekend will have taken its toll on the players. Postecoglou aims to change things up a bit and make use of his large squad by rotating some players in and out for Wednesday night’s game. Speaking on making changes, he said: “I haven’t made final decisions yet, but there will be some changes tomorrow. I think it [the semi-final] took a fair bit out of the lads at the weekend and I feel we need to freshen up the team.”
“We’ll make a few changes, obviously the pleasing thing for me is guys who’ve been out recently: Hakšabanović, Ralston, Welsh and McCarthy are all training and available. Alistair Johnston is also good now after not starting the weekend game.”
As well as the use of players coming back from injury, Postecoglou could also call on two players to make their debuts for the club, Tomoki Iwata and Yuki Kobayashi.
He was also speaking with the media about the motivation his team needs, no matter what opposition they face. Postecoglou said: “Your motivation should be every time you play to try to be at your best - to beat whatever opponent is in front of you.”