Elena Sadiku confident as Celtic FC Women face Aberdeen in key SWPL clash
Natalie Ross of Celtic (Colin Poultney/SWPL)
Celtic FC Women take on Aberdeen tomorrow (15 January) at New Douglas Park as the reigning Scottish champions play one of their two games in hand. The Celts currently sit fifth in the Scottish Women’s Premier League but could move up to second should they win both.
After a 4-2 victory against Partick Thistle that saw Elena Sadiku’s side kick off the new year with three points, Celtic will be confident going into this one. They’ve already managed to pick up a victory against Aberdeen once this season, so they will be hoping to have a repeat of that this time around.
The Dons haven’t enjoyed the greatest start to the 24/25 campaign, having only picked up 11 points from 15 games. They are currently 10th in the table, a place that would see them get directly relegated should they stay there, but with many more months to go of the season, there is still all to play for.
Aberdeen manager Scott Booth joined the side in October after former head coach Colin Bell stepped down in August for personal reasons. Booth spent 10 years at Pittodrie as a player for the men’s side, so it was a welcome addition to the club.
Aberdeen were on the wrong end of a 6-1 scoreline in their last game against Glasgow City (Colin Poultney/SWPL)
Sadiku has been keeping an eye on the opposition ahead of the match, and speaking to City Live, she said: “I’m looking at what we can do. I watched Aberdeen against Glasgow City, the first half, I went there before going to our game. Scott [Booth] took over so I wanted to see if there were any changes [since Celtic played them last].
“I’m not focused so much [on the new players], I was more looking collectively about what they’re looking to do offensively and defensively.
“I do believe and I do think that the players that I have is the only focus I have and how to get the best out of them. But we need to be aware of the things they can do against us but also so we have good ideas of how to exploit their weaknesses and that’s what we’re going to do in training and then hopefully in the game.
“I’m confident that I have great quality in my team that can exploit their weaknesses and I do believe that we have great quality in the defence that are going to make sure that their strengths are not going to be a threat for us.”
Despite securing victory over Brian Graham’s side at the weekend, Sadiku wasn’t pleased with the scoreline. She spoke after the game about how she wanted her players to be focused from the first minute and says that she is “100% confident” that they will do this in the game against Aberdeen.
But three points will ultimately be the priority for the Celts as they look to retain the SWPL title. Sadiku and the squad aren’t paying much attention to the overall table though.
She said: “If we play the next two games that we are behind, I know how the table can look like. But that is not important when we focus on each game because that is the only thing that we can control. We know that if we win the two games we have behind then we will be three points behind Glasgow City and two points ahead of Rangers if everything goes how it should go.
“The table will be important the last game of the season, or when it comes closer to that. Right now, we just need to focus on doing the very best we can, performing the best we can, and win our games, and that’s it. We’re aware of [the table], yes, but if I think about it, no.”
Although Celtic are in fifth place, they have enjoyed a good season so far, with new signing Saoirse Noonan spurring them on (Colin Poultney/SWPL)
Morgan Cross also spoke to City Live ahead of the game. She has had a good start to life at Celtic with two goals and two assists after eight appearances, four of them being off the bench. She was a standout player for Motherwell and will no doubt be looking to add to her tally as the Glasgow side battle in the title race.
Speaking about the Aberdeen game, she said: “I’m excited. I’ve not played Aberdeen this year because we didn’t when I was at Motherwell and since coming here, they’ve played them before so I’m excited to play. I think it’ll be a great challenge but I hope we can take three points.”
The game takes place tomorrow, 8pm, at New Douglas Park.