Celtic will look to go seven points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership tonight as they make the long journey to Pittodrie to face title rivals Aberdeen (kick-off: 8pm).
Unbeaten domestically, Brendan Rodgers’ side head into the game on the back of a scintillating weekend win over Ross County, where goals from Liam Scales, Luke McCowan, Paulo Bernardo, Callum McGregor and Adam Idah saw them run out comfortable 5-0 winners at Celtic Park.
As for Aberdeen, head coach Jimmy Thelin will be hoping they can return to winning ways and claw themselves back into the title race after their first defeat of the season to St Mirren was followed up by consecutive draws away to Hibs and Hearts. He will have to do it without key players Dimitar Mitov and Jack MacKenzie though, who are both ruled out of the game with injuries.
Celtic have virtually a full strength squad to choose from, though Rodgers has something of a selection headache with the likes of Bernardo, McCowan and Idah all desperate to start the game following their excellent weekend performances against Ross County. Will the Celtic boss opt to keep faith with the trio?
The Scotsman predict the Celtic starting XI for their Premier Sports Cup clash at Hampden, using live photos from yesterday’s training session.
9. RW: Nicolas Kuhn
He's been in electric form all season and will start on the right of Celtic's front three at Aberdeen. | SNS Group
10. LW: Daizen Maeda
Taken off at half-time in the 5-0 win over Ross County at the weekend, the energetic Japanese forward was given some much needed rest in order to be fit and firing against title rivals Aberdeen. | SNS Group
11. CF: Kyogo Furuhashi
It is a harsh one on Adam Idah, who performed well on his return to the starting XI. However, we can't see anyway that Kyogo doesn't start the game tonight. | SNS Group