Skip to main content

3 Celtic stars with something to prove against Kilmarnock

The Bhoys will want to return to winning ways in the league here
ByJamie Kemble
This could be Johnstone's last chance
This could be Johnstone's last chance | Craig Foy - SNS Group/GettyImages

Celtic return to Premiership action on Sunday when they face Kilmarnock at home. The Bhoys picked up a big three points in the Europa League during the week, but they will want to follow that up with a return to winning ways in the league here.

As for Kilmarnock, they are bottom but one and struggling for form, while they conceded five against Celtic the last time these two sides met.

Ahead of the game, we have taken a look at the Celtic players who have something to prove.

Haissem Hassan

Hassan clearly has bundles of ability, and it has arguably seen him dodge criticism for not doing enough. With his level of ability, the winger should be providing assists at will in this league, but he is not.

He isn't a big fan of defending, which has seen him miss out on the starting XI semi-regularly. Hassan needs to do more at the top end of the pitch to cover for what he does not offer defensively, and he isn't at the moment.

He beats a man here and there, and he puts a good cross in here and there, but it isn't consistent enough currently. We can see it's there, but we need to see it more reliably.

Colby Donovan

Hear me out. We saw Jordan Lotomba come in on Thursday night, and there is little more than simple rotation behind that because Donovan has already played a crazy number of games this season.

But Donovan is likely to come back in here, and it's on him to show why such rotation is not going to serve Celtic well. Lotomba did okay but not great, especially after he gave away a penalty, but Martin O'Neill will know that can happen to even the top defenders, and he knew Lotomba is rusty having not played much.

Donovan needs another top display, of which he has produced many this season, to make sure O'Neill knows what his right-back pecking order looks like.

Sam Johnstone

Johnstone is going to start again here, and it's likely O'Neill will look to make a decision on who his number one goalkeeper is going to be after this game, with the international break on the other side of it.

This could be Johnstone's last chance to prove he is a better option than Viljami Sinisalo. Johnstone had a decent game during the week but was beaten at his near post from range, which will have annoyed him, even if it was a powerful strike.

Has he done enough? As far as he is concerned, he needs to make sure the answer is 'yes' after this game.

Add us as a preferred source on Google