Celtic make the midweek trip to Pittodrie on Wednesday night to take on Aberdeen in their next away fixture in the Scottish Premiership, with a lot riding on the outcome for both clubs.
Martin O’Neill’s side heads north keen to keep the pressure on at the top of the table and stretch their title push, while Aberdeen, still working under interim leadership, are desperate to bring some stability back to their season in front of their own supporters.
O’Neill’s return to the Celtic dugout has been highly effective so far, with the champions now seven games unbeaten after Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Falkirk.
That result lifted Celtic into second place, level with Rangers on points, but still six adrift of leaders Hearts, having played one game fewer.
Before beating Falkirk, the Hoops had been held to back-to-back draws by Hearts and Bologna in the Europa League, yet they have now hit six goals across their last two outings, underlining an upturn in attacking output at a crucial stage of the campaign.
Celtic team news
Celtic completed loan deals for striker Junior Adamu from Freiburg, defender Benjamin Arthur from Brentford, and winger Joel Mvuka from Lorient to bolster the squad for the run-in.
Injuries, however, remain a major headache for the Celtic boss. Key defender Alistair Johnston is still unavailable, as are centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers and full-back Marcelo Saracchi, while playmaker Jota continues his long-term comeback from a cruciate ligament problem and Callum Osmand is still sidelined with a hamstring issue.
Even with those absences, Celtic successfully resisted significant interest in one of their standout performers, with Nottingham Forest seeing a bid worth up to £25 million for Arne Engels rejected, a move O’Neill described as “really tempting” but one he is delighted the board knocked back to keep the Belgian midfielder at the heart of their title charge.
Celtic predicted lineup
Possible Celtic starting XI: Schmeichel; Araujo, Murray, Scales, Tierney; Hyun-Jun, Engels, McGregor, Maeda; Cvancara, Nygren
When will the match kick off?
The match will kick off at 8pm BST on Wednesday, 4th February.
How to watch Aberdeen vs Celtic?
Supporters in the UK will be able to follow all the action live on Sky Sports Football.
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