Celtic boss confirms massive boost for Livingston game

Celtic will be looking to carry on their run at the top of the Premiership table, and potentially even extend the lead, when they take on Livingston away at Almondvale Stadium at the weekend. Of course, it will not be easy for Ange Postecoglou’s side, with David Martindale’s team riding high after a 1-1 draw against the Rangers away at Ibrox.

Thus, it is safe to say that Livingston are capable of pulling off a big result and Celtic will need to be careful not to drop points against them.

At the end of the day, the Hoops have not been a team in top form in recent times either. Their last win in the league was a shaky 4-3 victory over Hearts and they drew 1-1 against Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek.

Celtic have been handed a major boost heading into the game against Livingston though as it looks like Jota and Carl Starfelt are both available, even though they might not be in the condition to start. While speaking with Sky Sports, Postecoglou said about the situation:

"“Apart from Callum McGregor, all the other guys are back in training fully, which is great for us. Obviously, match fitness-wise they are nowhere near sort of the position to be able to start but in terms of being available, the pleasing thing for us is as I said apart from Callum, everyone else is available.”"

Celtic boss has confirmed massive boost for game against Livingston

It goes without saying that the availability of Jota and Starfelt is great news for the Hoops, as they are important players to this team.

Jota has not been in the squad since he was substituted off at half-time in the game vs St Johnstone earlier in the month and Celtic have certainly missed his spark up top.

On the other hand, Starfelt has been out of action even longer, having not featured since the 4-0 Glasgow Derby win over the Rangers. The Swede had struggled with a different injury problem before that as well, which led him to missing pre-season. Thus, Postecoglou will have to be extra careful with his reintroduction into the team and managing his minutes.