Celtic return to Scottish Premiership action on Friday night, taking on bottom feeders Partick Thistle. Yes, you are reading that correctly — another Friday night match for the Bhoys.
This time it comes on the heels of a Tuesday night trip to Manchester City in the Champions League finale for the Celts this season. You know, because an extra day of rest couldn’t possibly be in the offing for the only Scottish team still playing in Europe.
But, there could be worse ways to come off of European play — as the Jags are tied at the bottom of the table on just 14 points.
Celtic are probably lucky to have this short turnaround against a club they have dominated. After all, Partick Thistle has lost their last 21 meetings with the Hoops in the SPFL. Oh, and last season’s late penalty goal was the only one given up by Celtic in the last two years against the Jags.
This is a good start to what is going to be a wild set of fixtures for Celtic this month. Just how wild? Try these set of first-team fixtures:
- Fri., Dec. 9 — at Partick Thistle
- Tues., Dec. 13 — vs. Hamilton
- Sat., Dec. 17 — vs. Dundee
- Tues. Dec. 20 — vs. Partick Thistle
- Sat., Dec 24 — at Hamilton
- Wed., Dec 28 — vs. Ross County
About the only good news is Celtic will avoid having to face Sevco, Hearts and Aberdeen over this stretch. However, Rodgers sees this time as a positive for his club.
“If you want to be successful you’re going to play 50-60 games a season so we’re prepared for that and the players will be as well,” said Rodgers to the team’s website. “You don’t want to put anyone at risk but ensure the freshness, speed and intensity is very much there in our game.”
The not-so-good news? Celtic are far from full strength and face the real possibility of half of its midfield likely out of this contest and for some time.
Partick Thistle are good and rested, expecting to put out the same squad it did from its last match.
Brendan Rodgers’ side is likely to see lots of changes, especially with James Forrest picking up a hamstring injury against Man City on Tuesday. That could mean the first start of the season for one Gordon Mackay-Steven, who has equated himself well in the first two appearances off the bench so far this season.
With Scott Sinclair and Kieran Tierney already ruled out this weekend with injuries, Celtic can’t afford a lot more to go wrong or we’re talking about seriously stretching the depth of this squad.
It appears Sinclair is close to recovering, but don’t expect him back for at least two or three matches at the earliest.
“Scott Sinclair is coming along very well,” Rodgers said. “It won’t be this weekend but we’re very hopeful that for the Dundee game he might not be too far away.”
There’s also the need for Emilio Izagurrie to step up his level of play, which has been lacking compared to the injured Kieran Tierney. Celtic could get a major boost to the squad should Tierney get back to full strength by the end of the month, but that is a huge question mark.
Speaking of the defense, Celtic are likely to need to rotate its center backs with games virtually every three days the rest of the month. That’s where depth will be tested as the likes of Kolo Toure and Dedrick Boyata haven’t exactly been confidence-inducing with performances as of late.
Eventually captain Scott Brown is going to need a rest in this crazy set of fixtures, while the same can be true of star striker Moussa Dembele. Replacements for those two are also injury risks in Leigh Griffiths and Nir Bitton.
With Celtic looking to do a historic treble and run the table in the Premiership this season, this December stretch is going to be the point in the season that makes or breaks those hopes.
"“Between now and Christmas it’ll be difficult. We’ll see improvements in the team but after Christmas the games will lighten up a bit and that allows us more time on the training field and more recovery time. It’s the natural consequence of working together for longer. They will improve and learn more about how we want to work but over the course of this period now it’s about retaining the intensity and quality in our game and obviously ensuring we can stay as fit as we possibly can.”"
Win out and Celtic are likely to lock up the championship in short order.
Drop a match or two and it will be clear that this squad isn’t deep enough or quality enough for Rodgers’ hopes and aspirations for this club.
Either way, we’re all about to find out just what this club is made of this December.