Preview: Celtic vs. St Johnstone - prediction, team news, lineups

Celtic will host St Johnstone on Saturday as they return to Scottish Premiership action following their midweek Champions League victory.

21 Oct 2021, 16:40 · Sports Mole

The visitors were defeated following the international break, with the club having only won two games so far in the division.

Match preview

After a mixed start to the season, Celtic have now put together a trio of consecutive victories across the Scottish Premiership and the Champions League.

The Hoops defeated Aberdeen prior to the international break, and they followed that form up at the weekend when they played Motherwell in the league.

It was an impressive performance from the squad who had 74% of the possession as Jota and David Turnbull got themselves on the scoresheet to win the game 2-0.

Ange Postecoglou's team extended their winning ways in the Champions League on Tuesday when they beat Ferencvaros with Kyogo Furuhashi finding the back of the net as an own goal then helped secure the result.

This was Celtic's first victory in Group G, keeping them in contention to qualify into the knockout phase, while the Hoops have also begun pushing up the Scottish Premiership league table.

They are currently just four points behind Rangers, with a victory having the potential to take them as high as second place, which would get them straight back into the title race.

The visitors, on the other hand, are not enjoying quite as much success as they sit in eighth place at the moment with just two victories in the opening nine fixtures.

Scoring has been an issue for St Johnstone, with no club in the league having found the back of the net fewer times than them so far.

The Saints scored half of their goals during their victory against Dundee prior to the international break when they picked up a 3-1 victory.

However, they could not continue that form when league football returned at the weekend against Livingston when they were defeated 3-0, which dragged them down towards the relegation zone.

St Johnstone are only three points above the bottom two, which adds extra pressure on this particular game in order to stay where they are in the table.

Celtic Scottish Premiership form:

Celtic form (all competitions):

St Johnstone Scottish Premiership form:

St Johnstone form (all competitions):

Team News

Christopher Jullien has been out of action since last year, but the defender is nearing his return to full fitness and could soon be available for the Hoops.

Celtic could still be missing Josip Juranovic and James Forrest for this particular fixture, though, as they both continue to push to return from their respective injuries.

St Johnstone could be set to welcome back both Ali Crawford and Liam Gordon at the weekend as they have been involved in training throughout the week.

However, the Saints will still be missing Shaun Rooney as he was substituted against Livingston through an ankle problem which is set to rule him out once again.

Celtic possible starting lineup:
Hart; Ralston, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt, Montgomery; Rogic, McGregor, Turnbull; Abada, Jota, Furuhashi

St Johnstone possible starting lineup:
Clark; McCart, Ambrose, Brown; O'Halloran, MacPherson, Craig, Booth; Wotherspoon; Kane, May

We say: Celtic 3-0 St Johnstone

Celtic have been in fantastic form as of late and throughout the entire season they have proven their ability to score goals, which will lead to some major problems for St Johnstone.

With the Hoops now starting to put pressure on the teams above them, this is not a game that they will want to slip up on, which is why they should be able to secure a comfortable victory.

Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:data

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