Celtic play host to Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday afternoon looking to bounce back from the disappointment of exiting the Champions League earlier this week.
Meanwhile, the visitors, without a win in the top flight this season, prepared for this contest with a dominant victory over Glentoran in the Europa League first qualifying round.
Match preview
© Reuters
After seeing his team's schedule disrupted by the coronavirus misdemeanour of Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo, Celtic boss Neil Lennon would have hoped that a successful Champions League qualifying campaign would get the club quickly back on track.
However, the 2-1 home defeat to Ferencvaros in midweek has left the long-reigning champions without participation in the group stages for another season, raising question marks regarding the future of the Northern Irishman.
Lennon has not been shy in acknowledging that some of his players have requested to leave the club before the end of the summer window, something which could be perceived as a plea for transfer funds to be raised for targets who wish to make the switch to Glasgow.
Nevertheless, even with two games in hand on leaders Rangers, Lennon must ensure that Celtic do not lose further ground on their city rivals during what already feels like a make-or-break period.
Although Celtic are clear favourites to prevail this weekend, their opponents will feel like they have turned a corner after their result in Europe on Thursday evening.
While scoring five times against a Glentoran side reduced to 10 men will not be regarded as a major scalp, it has the potential to set the ball rolling for Stephen Robinson and his Motherwell squad.
Just two points have been recorded from their opening five league matches, a return made worse by the surprise 1-0 home defeat to Hamilton Academical last weekend.
The exit of David Turnbull to Sunday's opponents will not have helped the mood at Fir Park, but it frees up Robinson to make at least one significant addition over the coming weeks.
Despite a central midfielder inevitably being on the agenda, Robinson may want to strengthen in attack after witnessing his side fail to score in four of their first five domestic fixtures.
Celtic Scottish Premiership form: WDW
Celtic form (all competitions): WDWWL
Motherwell Scottish Premiership form: LLDDL
Motherwell form (all competitions): LLDDLW
Team News
© Reuters
Lennon has confirmed that Odsonne Edouard will miss Sunday's contest with the thigh injury which sidelined him in midweek.
Having only been used as a substitute in Europe, Albian Ajeti is expected to come into the team for his first Celtic start.
With Kristoffer Ajer being linked with a move to the Premier League, Nir Bitton could feature at centre-back, but Turnbull is unlikely to be thrown straight into the first XI.
Despite the short turnaround, Motherwell boss Robinson may opt against making any alterations to the side which began on Thursday.
Tony Watt will want to be considered for a starting role against his former club.
Celtic possible starting lineup:
Barkas; Frimpong, Jullien, Bitton, Taylor; Brown, McGregor; Forrest, Christie, Elyounoussi; Ajeti
Motherwell possible starting lineup:
Carson; O'Donnell, Gallagher, Mugabi, Lamie; Grimshaw, Campbell, O'Hara; Polworth, Long, Lang
We say: Celtic 2-1 Motherwell
Despite their contrasting starts in the top flight, this now has all the makings of a closely-fought contest. However, motivated to respond to the setback in Europe, we are backing Celtic to fight their way to a narrow triumph.
Top betting 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
Darren Plant
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Celtic win with a probability of 75.96%. A draw had a probability of 15.1% and a win for Motherwell had a probability of 8.91%.
The most likely scoreline for a Celtic win was 2-0 with a probability of 12.08%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-0 (10.16%) and 1-0 (9.57%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.16%), while for a Motherwell win it was 0-1 (2.84%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 10.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Celtic would win this match.
