Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could make his first Celtic start after dream debut

Predicted starting XI and match prediction for Celtic vs Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.
Celtic v Livingston - William Hill Premiership
Celtic v Livingston - William Hill Premiership | Ross MacDonald - SNS Group/GettyImages

Celtic travel to Ayrshire this weekend to take on Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership. The Hoops won their last game thanks to a late goal from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on his debut, and they'll be hoping to stay in the title race with three more points on the board.

The hosts sit 11th place in the league this season, having managed 20 points so far. In their last five games, they have two wins, one draw and two losses, and have conceded the second-most goals of all 12 teams this campaign.

The Celts have four wins in their last five, with one draw, and they sit firmly in the title race. They are only six points off the top spot, with a game in hand.

Predicted Celtic XI for Kilmarnock away

Kasper Schmeichel will be in nets, keeping up his record of starting all but one league game this season. He has kept 12 clean sheets in the Premiership, and fans will hope that he can keep another one on the road.

Both Auston Trusty and Liam Scales enjoyed good games midweek, so we can expect them both to start here. At this point in the campaign, O'Neill will want to keep his best centre-back pairing to give Celtic the highest chance of victory.

In the fullback pairings, Julian Aurajo and Marcelo Saracchi will play. Kieran Tierney could start this one, but it's likely that O'Neill will want to keep him as fit as possible going into Celtic's game against VfB Stuttgart. Saracchi's fantastic strike last time out will also go in his favour.

In the middle of the park, Callum McGregor and Benjamin Nygren are sure to keep their starting spots. Arne Engels picked up an injury last time out, with both O'Neill and Shaun Maloney being unsure of how long he will be out for.

So, with this in mind, Oxlade-Chamberlain could be in with a shout. It's unknown if he is fully match fit yet, but after a good display on his debut, fans will love to see him again. Reo Hatate is another option, but after his disastrous displays against Dundee and Livingston, supporters will hope that O'Neill will keep him away from the starting 11.

Up front, Tomas Cvancara will likely still be given the nod at striker. Although he failed to score or assist against Livingston, supporters were happy with his movement and his gameplay. Of course, there is a chance that Junior Adamu could start up front.

On the wings, Sebastian Tounekti will start. He continued his good form with an assist against Livingston, and O'Neill would be silly to drop him to the bench right now. Yang was spotted in training again after missing out on the last match. He will probably start, with his form this season too good to ignore.

Another big question is if we'll see Joel Mvuka named on the bench. He was dropped from the Livingston squad for seemingly no reason, and after his bad debut, people thought he might have already lost the trust of O'Neill. He was also spotted in training this week, so if he doesn't come back into the mix, then that's a point of concern.


Schmeichel (GK)

Aurajo (RB), Trusty (CB), Scales (CB), Saracchi (LB)

Nygren (CM), McGregor (CM), Oxlade-Chamberlain (CM)

Yang (RW), Cvancara (ST), Tounekti (LW)


How could the match go?

Many supporters expected a bigger result against Livingston. We thought that one could be tight, and it was, but Kilmarnock have conceded a lot of goals in their last five fixtures, and Celtic could add to their misery.

So our prediction is Kilmarnock 0 - 4 Celtic.

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