Celtic take on St Mirren in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup at Celtic Park on Saturday afternoon.
This is the second competitive meeting between the sides within a month, as the hosts ran out 4-0 winners back on January 18 in Scottish Premiership action.
Match preview
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Celtic are well on course to make it two-straight Scottish Premiership titles under the helm of Ange Postecoglou, currently nine points clear of Rangers at the top of the league table.
However, the one domestic trophy that Postecoglou could not get his hands on last season was the Scottish Cup, with Rangers ending up the eventual winners, a record that he will want to set straight this season.
Celtic's home form has been formidable this campaign – in the 12 league matches they have played at Celtic Park, the Hoops have all of them, scoring 37 goals in the process.
Postecoglou's men have continuously kept themselves at the summit of the division, and the 4-1 victory over St Johnstone last time out means Celtic find themselves unbeaten in 17 league matches since the beginning of October, when they suffered their only league defeat of the campaign thus far at the hands of St Mirren.
However, when the sides met on January 18, Celtic were comfortable 4-0 winners courtesy of goals from Liel Abada and David Turnbull, as well as a brace from Kyogo Furuhashi.
The Hoops had no issues in dispatching Greenock Morton in the previous round, with Furuhashi once again bagging a brace along with Aaron Mooy, and Turnbull getting in on the act again too.
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As for the visitors, their winning streak came to an end last time out as they lost 1-0 at home to Hibernian, with Elie Youan grabbing the only goal of the game.
Prior to that, St Mirren had claimed three successive victories across all competitions, with a Scottish Cup penalty-shootout win over Dundee followed by Premiership triumphs over Motherwell and Aberdeen, after failing to win each of their opening four matches in 2023.
It is fair to say that the Buddies have performed much better in front of their own fans than on their travels, picking up just eight points from 11 league matches away from home this season.
Stephen Robinson's side have won nine of their 24 Premiership fixtures this term and they currently sit sixth in the table, nine points behind third-placed Hearts who have played a game more.
St Mirren scraped through the previous round against Dundee, and they now face a monumental task of overcoming a Celtic side who have not dropped a point at home all season.
Team News
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Ange Postecoglou has little reason to change his Celtic team after their 4-1 victory over St Johnstone last time out, although he may make some rotations given the strength throughout their squad, with the likes of David Turnbull, Aaron Mooy, Liel Abada and January signing Oh Hyeon-gyu all fighting to feature from the start on Saturday.
Kyogo Furuhashi hit his 19th league goal of the season against St Johnstone, so he will continue to lead the line for Celtic and will fancy his chances of getting on the scoresheet after bagging a brace the last time he faced St Mirren.
The Bhoys look set to go with an unchanged back four featuring Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt in the middle with Greg Taylor and Alistair Johnston occupying the full-back positions, while Callum McGregor should retain his place in the engine room and don the captain's armband.
As for the visitors, attacker Jonah Ayunga is facing a few weeks on the sidelines with a knee injury.
January loan signing Tony Watt will be poised to make his full debut for St Mirren this weekend after only featuring from the bench so far, while Greg Kiltie should retain his place in midfield alongside Keanu Baccus and Mark O'Hara.
Celtic possible starting lineup:
Hart; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt, Taylor; Mooy, McGregor, Hatate; Jota, Furuhashi, Maedae
St Mirren possible starting lineup:
Carson; Strain, Fraser, Gogic, Dunne, Tanser; Kiltie, Baccus, O'Hara; Watt, Main
We say: Celtic 3-0 St Mirren
Despite the loss to St Mirren in September, Celtic have proven that they are a vastly superior team to their opponents this weekend, and we do not foresee them having any trouble in putting their name into the hat for the next round.
As such, it is not likely to be a matter of whether Celtic win, rather how many they win by, and we expect them to cruise home to a very comfortable victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
