Ange Postecoglou has named his Celtic side to take on Livingston at a sold-out Parkhead.
The Scottish champions returned from the World Cup shutdown last weekend with a big away day win over Aberdeen. Returning skipper Callum McGregor was influential on the day for the visitors and he popped up with a vital winner with just three minutes left on the clock. It's back to home soil this evening as David Martindale and his troops make the short trip to Glasgow.
Rangers' dramatic comeback win over Jim Goodwin's Dons means the gap between the Old Firm rivals stands at six points going into this one. At one point it looked as though the Hoops would be handed a golden chance to increase their gap further but supersub Scott Arfield netted twice in added-time to secure a 3-2 win for new boss Michael Beale as he made it two wins from two. Celtic have won 15 and lost just once this season and another victory will restore their nine point advantage at the Premiership summit.
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Speaking ahead of this one, Postecoglou said: “It’s always a difficult challenge because the thing with Livingston is that, irrespective of who they’re playing against, they have a certain style and stick to it which gives them some sort of certainty going into every game.
“If you go into a game and change every week then it can put players into that air of uncertainty. We’ve played them a few times now, but it’s a different challenge both home and away.
‘It’s Celtic Park and we can do certain things which are difficult for us to do on their turf, so it will be a good challenge for us.’
“Their game got cancelled at the weekend so they come in and it can go one of two ways where they have a lot of energy or, if they’re not quite at it early on, then we can take advantage of it.”
CELTIC XI: Hart, Ralston, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt, Taylor, McGregor, O'Riley, Hatate, Abada, Jota, Kyogo
Subs: Siegrist, Jenz, Giakoumakis, Haksabanovic, Mooy, Turnbull, Maeda, Bernabei, Forrest
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