Celtic, looking to maintain their unbeaten start to the 2024-25 Scottish Premiership season, will welcome Ross County to Celtic Park on Saturday afternoon.
The hosts are top of the league with 34 points from their opening 12 outings, while the visitors are sitting in eighth in the standings, with 15 points after 14 fixtures.
Match preview
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Celtic have made a remarkable start to the 2024-25 Scottish Premiership season, remaining undefeated after 12 fixtures with 11 wins and one draw, leaving them top of the table with 34 points.
That unbeaten streak has carried over since the end of last campaign, leaving them without defeat in the league in 21 matches across the two terms, a superb run they will be hopeful of continuing on Saturday.
The Bhoys have not only had an impressive beginning in the league, though, having suffered just one defeat in their first 20 matches across all competitions, with 16 wins and three draws.
Celtic's sole defeat, a crushing 7-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, sparked criticism of Brendan Rodgers' insistence on an expansive style, but the manager's decisions have been vindicated in the games that followed.
They have since shown a more defensive style in a 0-0 draw with Atalanta in the Champions League, their first away clean sheet in Europe in seven years, a crushing 6-0 win against then-unbeaten Aberdeen in the Scottish League Cup semi-final and 3-1 victory against RB Leipzig.
Celtic's six-game winning streak ended in a frustrating 1-1 draw against Club Brugge last time out, highlighted by a costly own goal from Cameron Carter-Vickers, leaving the Bhoys eager to return to winning ways here.
They will fancy themselves against a Ross County side that have had a mixed start to the 2024-25 season, sitting eighth in the table with 15 points from their first 14 fixtures.
Ross County have secured only three wins in their first 14 matches, alongside six draws and five losses, but enter this clash boosted by a recent victory over Motherwell.
Despite their inconsistency at the start of this term, Don Cowie, who has been in charge since February 2024, will be pleased that his side sit six points above the bottom two, given the Staggies have placed in the relegation playoff place in each of the last two campaigns.
However, Ross County have expectedly struggled in this fixture, having failed to win against Celtic in any of their past 12 meetings, suffering defeat in all of those encounters.
Team News
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Celtic only have the absence of Odin Thiago Holm to contend with for this match, with the midfielder not expected to return from a calf injury until early December.
Arne Engels and Greg Taylor were substituted early in the second half of Wednesday's draw with Brugge, and they may be replaced by Paulo Bernardo and Alex Valle for this match.
Daizen Maeda scored the equaliser for Celtic in that match, taking his season total to nine goals across all competitions, and the forward is expected to partner Nicolas-Gerrit Kuhn and Kyogo Furuhashi here.
The visitors will remain without Max Sheaf, who has been absent since April due to a muscle injury, and Will Nightingale, who has been out since October and will not return until December.
George Harmon and Kacper Lopata were both taken off in the victory against Motherwell due to injury concerns, meaning both could be doubts to feature in this one.
Celtic possible starting lineup:
Schmeichel; Johnston, Trusty, Carter-Vickers, Valle; Bernardo, McGregor, Hatate; Kuhn, Furuhashi, Maeda
Ross County possible starting lineup:
Laidlaw; Wright, Efete, Leak; Brown, Randall, Nisbet, Reid; Chilvers; White, Hale
We say: Celtic 3-0 Ross County
Celtic have been an unbeatable force in domestic competitions so far this season, and while Ross County will be encouraged by their recent victory, the hosts are undoubtedly the stronger side, leading us to expect a comfortable win for Celtic.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ellis Stevens
