Having lost the previous two Glasgow Derbies, Celtic will be keen to avoid defeat when they travel to Ibrox this weekend. The Premiership title might already be in the bag but these fixtures always have their special importance. Coming into 2025, Brendan Rodgers had lost just once against the Rangers. He won't want to quadruple that number by May, that is for sure.
Unfortunately for Celtic, they have a lot of worries going into the game against the Rangers. It looks like they will be without a number of their best performers at Ibrox.
Of course, the Jota news broke earlier today. The knee injury picked up against Dundee United seems to have been much worse than anticipated and he is set to be out for six to nine months.
Jota won't be the only first-team regular missing from the team against the Rangers this weekend, though. Alistair Johnston won't be available for selection on the day either. Rodgers confirmed the news. As reported by The Celtic Way, the Northern Irish manager said:
"We've got a few knocks, so obviously Jota will be out and sadly for us and for him he'll be out for a period of time, probably six to nine months.
"It was the cruciate and it was worse than we'd hoped, really, so he starts on his journey of recovery from that now, but somewhere between six and nine months.
"Alistair Johnson won't be available. Ali's been needing an injection into his hip for a period of time to ensure he was ready for the cup final, and in our preparation, we decided that we would do that after the Dundee United game.
"So I picked him out of the game at the weekend, and most probably the St Mirren game and that gives him a few weeks to be ready for the cup final."
Celtic double blow confirmed for match vs Rangers
The only positive coming out of this is that Johnston should be ready for the Scottish Cup final against Aberdeen. That is the only game of consequence left on the Hoops' calendar for the 25/26 campaign.
In the absence of Johnstone, Anthony Ralston is expected to be the one to take his place in the squad. Of course, there will be a dip in quality as a result.
That being said, one cannot question what Ralston brings to the pitch as well. He is a proven Scottish international and has been the backup option at right-back for Celtic for several years now. Also, having come through the club's youth ranks, this is a game that means that bit extra to