Celtic returned to form in style at the weekend, at the expense of Hibernian. Coming into the game, the Hoops had won just two of their previous seven matches and scored merely six goals over that period of time. Well, the Hoops did manage to match that figure against Lee Johnson’s side, as they beat Hibs 6-1 at Parkhead.
Hopefully, that result will bring the swagger back in their step and they can kick on once again, after what have been some pretty rough past few weeks in terms of results.
Standing in their way next is Motherwell, as Celtic will face Steven Hammell’s side in the quarter-final of the Scottish League Cup, a trophy that they are trying to and must be keen to defend this season.
Motherwell are not going into this game in good shape though, as they have a series of injuries. Ricki Lamie hobbled off in the game against the Rangers, while Jo Efford, Louis Moult and Blair Spittal missed it through injury. As reported by the Daily Record, Hammell said regarding the matter:
"“Ricki is okay, we’ll assess it as we go. It’s an impact on his ribs, very similar to Blair Spittal.“The last thing we need right now is anymore injury concerns because every forward player we have was either on the pitch today or injured or suspended.“We are looking at the bench and we’ve only got a couple of 16 year old kids and we couldn’t even fill the bench today as well.“We hope it will be better by Wednesday because we need these players back.“We’ve got a thin squad and a lot of quality starters are out just now so hopefully we will see a few of them returning soon.”"
Motherwell head into game against Celtic in bad shape
Despite their sheer number of injuries, Motherwell did put up a spirited fight against the Rangers and lost by a 2-1 scoreline. Thus, it is safe to say that Celtic cannot afford to take them lightly.
At the same time, Ange Postecoglou’s side are no strangers to injury problems either and have key players like Jota, Callum McGregor, Carl Starfelt and others missing at this point of time. Thus, the Hoops will be nowhere near full-strength either.
Celtic might have gotten a big win and some momentum back on their side, but they have got to be careful. A cup upset against Motherwell is not something that they can afford at this point of time.