Boss Brendan Rodgers offered Celtic fans some positive news on the injury front following their 2-0 win over Hibernian at Parkhead on Wednesday night.
The Northern Irishman had a full team of players unavailable, most through injury, for the visit of the Easter Road side in the Ladbrokes Premiership.
He also watched left-back Emilio Izaguirre get carried up the tunnel on a stretcher late in the game after a fierce tackle by Hibs' substitute and debutant Darnell Johnson, who was booked by referee Craig Thomson.
By that time a Ryan Christie strike and a deflected Oliver Burke shot had the three points secure which maintained the six-point gap over Old Firm rivals Rangers at the top of the table.
Rodgers is confident that Izaguirre's injury is not as bad as first feared, saying: "The medical team is telling me he thinks he has got away with it, so it is a little bit sore and hopefully he will be OK in a few days."
🎙️ Brendan Rodgers speaking to the media after tonight's win... 🗣️ "It was a controlled performance. We scored a very good first goal and in the second-half we organised the game well. It was a great three points for us and a very good team performance." #CELHIB pic.twitter.com/21qxv2VPZ6 — Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) February 6, 2019
Ahead of the William Hill Scottish Cup tie against St Johnstone at Parkhead on Sunday, which comes before the home first-leg of the Europa League tie against Valencia the following Thursday, the former Liverpool boss added: "Olivier Ntcham will hopefully be back towards the weekend, he has been training all week, it was brilliant to have Dedryck Boyata back, it is a plus having him back after being out so long, Odsonne Edouard will hopefully be OK by the weekend.
"James Forrest's scan was clear, we just need to monitor the tightness of that (hamstring), whether he will definitely be available for the weekend – I would think he will definitely be ready for Valencia."
ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Ronnie Esplin, Press Association Sport');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', '31353c5e-93ba-41b6-b010-e6ab477ab305');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:club-news,paservice:sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers reveals good news on injury front'});
