Bhoys' New Year Buddies Battle

Bhoys' New Year Buddies Battle
~~~~~~~~~~ Official TC Match Preview ~~~~~~~~~~


David Turnbull takes the congratulations for scoring when these sides last met in November


SMiSA Stadium, Paisley
Tuesday, 2 January 2024
17.00 GMT

The Hoops make the short trip across to Paisley for the Tuesday evening kick off against 5th placed St Mirren in this final Premiership fixture ahead of the winter break.

It is fair to say that Brendan Rodgers' side have gone through a bit of a roller-coaster ride over the past month or so, with a couple of lacklustre performances. These were firmly pushed aside on Saturday however, when the Bhoys secured a 2-1 victory in the Glasgow derby, which has restored a slight advantage in the title race to the Hoops, although there is still a long way to go.

It was the first time this season that the Celts had secured 3 consecutive wins across all competitions this season, and will be aiming for a 4th when they take on St Mirren.

Even though Brendan's Bhoys will be coming into this game high on confidence, they cannot go into this with any less preparation, attention to detail or focus, because the hosts will be no pushovers, especially on their own patch.​

Oh Hyeon-gyu was the hero when he sealed the 2-1 victory v St Mirren back in November

Stephen Robinson has done a remarkable job since taking over the Paisley club, in first steadying the ship following Jim Goodwin's departure in February 2022, before securing the club's first top 6 finish in the top flight since the mid-1980's last season.

And so far this campaign the hosts have been comfortably in the top half and will perhaps have aspiratons of reaching Europe in 2024. On top of which, they are coming into this game on the back of a resounding 3-0 'away' victory against Aberdeen.

Furthermore, the Saints have been something of a thorn in Celtic's side in recent times. In fact, the Hoops have not been able to string together 3 consecutive league wins in meetings between these clubs without dropping points over the past 3 seasons.

And with the Hoops riding high after the Glasgow derby, they must safeguard against any complacency, lest dropping points here will undermine all of the effort and once again surrender the slender advantage that the derby win achieved.

By the Numbers​

• The Hoops are coming into this game on the back of 3 consecutive wins across all comps for the first time this season.

• The Celts have scored a total of 23 goals away from Parkhead this season - almost half of which (11) have come in the last 15 minutes of games.

• St Mirren have not won back to back games since the middle of September.

• The Paisley club have won all 5 of their home league games when they have scored first.

Kyogo's superb strike at the weekend was his 7th goal in his last 6 appearances against Sevco

Team News

Celtic will be without Stephen Welseh, who went off with a shoulder injury at the weekend, in addition to Cameron Carter-Vickers and Tomoki Iwata.

Expect Maik Nawrocki to partner Liam Scales in central defence, while Paulo Bernardo also deserves to keep his place in midfield, having scored in each of the past 2 games and put in an impressive overall performance at the weekend.​

As for Stephen Robinson's side, winger Conor McMenamin is a slight doubt, while defender Ryan Strain has been ruled out with a groin problem.

Referee: David Munro

Munro has officiated 60 Premiership matches in total, but Celtic have won just 2 of the 7 League games when the 43yr old has been the referee - both of which were against Ross County - and the most recent was the 2-1 loss to Kilmarnock in December.

Celtic Overall Record with Munro
M: 8 W: 3 D: 3 L: 2

VAR: Steven McLean



~~~~ Head to Head ~~~~

Overall
P: 265 W: 183 D: 48 L: 34​

Last 5 Meetings
W D W W W

~~~~ 2022/23 Form ~~~~

All Comps
W W W L W ~ W L L D W

SPFL
W W W L L ~ W L L D W​