Paul Tisdale makes his Celtic priorities clear after being named Head of Football Operations
Now that the international break is all but over, Celtic fans can look forward to the real football starting up again.
After watching Anthony Ralston shackle Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo, it’s back to domestic and European action starting this weekend against Aberdeen.
Jimmy Thelin’s men come calling as The Dons look to get an elusive Celtic Park win and then it’s a trip to Italy to face Atalanta.
But it doesn’t stop there. Celtic have seven big fixtures to negotiate in three competitions before the next international break and here, 67 Hail Hail predicts how these will go including picking up points in the Champions League.
Celtic’s Scottish Premiership clean sweep
Over the course of the next four weeks Celtic’s fixture schedule pits Brendan Rodgers up against Aberdeen (H), Motherwell (A), Dundee (H) and Kilmarnock (A).
Jimmy Thelin’s side offer the toughest challenge to Celtic but Rodgers should have enough to collect all three points in all four upcoming fixtures.
Here’s our prediction
Scottish Premiership
Celtic 3 v 1 Aberdeen
Motherwell 0 v 2 Celtic
Celtic 4 v 0 Dundee
Kilmarnock 1 v 3 Celtic
Scottish League Cup semi-final
Celtic 2 v 0 Aberdeen
Aberdeen have been in decent attacking form and could nick a goal at Celtic Park in the league but we also expect Brendan Rodgers to progress to the League Cup Final in December.
Motherwell has been flying in the Scottish Premiership table and will be a tough nut to crack whereas Dundee has been significantly weakened by the loss of Luke McCowan and Kilmarnock will continue to struggle when Celtic come calling.
Celtic get three points vs RB Leipzig in Champions League
The Champions League has been a bit of a mixed bag for the Celtic supporters. After the Bhoys secured an impressive win over Slovan Bratislava, Rodgers was brought back down to earth after Celtic got thumped in Dortmund.
Celtic’s Belgian midfielder #27 Arne Engels celebrates after scoring a penalty and his teams third goal during the UEFA Champions League.
However, Atalanta awaits next week as do RB Leipzig in November so here is how we think these games will go:
UEFA Champions League
Atalanta 3 v 0 Celtic
Celtic 2 v 1 RB Leipzig
Nothing would please us more than picking up points in Italy but in reality, getting anything from the current Europa League holders away is tough.
Celtic have had success against Italian teams in Europe but this game could be a bridge too far.
The Germans will come to Celtic Park looking for a positive result. The Hoops have faced Leipzig four times and won just one.
With the squad Rodgers has at his disposal and a 60,000 crowd behind them, we think Celtic will pick up three precious points to help get out of the group phase.
