Celtic are taking a break from beating up on the rest of the Scottish Premiership this weekend. Instead, they will be looking to advance in the William Hill Scottish Cup.
Their opponent this weekend, Inverness, is a well-known side to the Hoops. The two have tangled twice in Scottish Premiership action already.
Will a week of training see changes for Celtic’s Starting XI? Can the Bhoys continue an unbeaten run in all domestic competition?
Let’s see what the Starting XI’s look like for this clash.
Celtic’s Starting XI:
📋 Celtic team for today's @ScottishFA Cup 5th Round tie against @ICTFC. #COYBIG pic.twitter.com/p8hIGSbQAF
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) February 11, 2017
Inverness’ Starting XI:
Team Lines : Celtic v #ICTFC : William Hill Scottish Cup pic.twitter.com/N1h8TR93gU
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) February 11, 2017
Analysis:
Anyone who expected to see less than Celtic’s bet available lineup will be disappointed by this one. Let’s not forget that a 2-2 draw in the Highlands at Caley Thistle remains the only time Celtic haven’t taken a full result in domestic play this season.
Since then, the Bhoys have taken it out on the visitors today with a 3-0 result in November. However, two of the three goal scorers in that match aren’t on this team sheet as both Tom Rogic and Leigh Griffiths continue to see extended time away from the team sheets.
But, this squad today is full of Celtic regulars to say the least.
There’s the usual starters at the back, with Dedryck Boyata continuing to feature alongside Eric Sviatchenko. Mikael Lustig and Kiernan Tierney are on the outside of defense as well. Interestingly enough, Tierney hasn’t seen Inverness since a mid-September matchup so this should be interesting for the visitors to Celtic Park.
We’ll also see the official returns of James Forrest and Moussa Dembele to the Starting XI. Dembele was a second-half sub last week, managing a hattrick for his time on the pitch, and he’s clearly ready to be back in the squad.
About the only other interesting move amongst the Starting XI has been the insertion of young Liam Henderson in to the mix. However, we’ve seen manager Brendan Rodgers giving him more and more time off the bench as of late and he certainly earned another go of it in the Starting XI after last weekend’s performance as a starter.
There’s also no Patrick Roberts at all for the Bhoys today, as he is left off the team sheet entirely.
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Celtic’s strongest side for the Scottish Cup fifth round against a Premiership bottom-feeding Caley Thistle should tell you all you need to know about Rodgers’ intentions this season.
He’s going for it all and not afraid to put the best lineup possible out there against anyone.