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Celtic vs. Inverness Caledonian Thistle - Match Preview

Discussion in 'TalkCeltic News' started by Moustache, Nov 4, 2016.

By Moustache on Nov 4, 2016 at 9:51 PM
  1. Moustache

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    Saturday 5th November

    Kickoff: 15:00

    Celtic Park

    Celtic TV





    After a night of mixed emotions in Germany, Celtic must now deal with the transition from the dizzying heights of the Champions League, to their bread and butter of the SPFL.

    Inverness will be our opponents on Saturday and the Highlanders have proven themselves something of a bogey team for Celtic in the past - a label they'll be hoping to live up to come the weekend. The last meeting between the two sides ended in a two all draw, but is perhaps best remembered for bringing to an end Celtic's domestic winning streak.


    Celtic

    Celtic are naturally the favourites going in to this match, with the Parkhead side currently being unbeaten in all domestic competition. However, fans will remember that Inverness were the side who brought our winning streak to an end back in September. Brendan Rodgers certainly hasn't forgotten the result, even admitting that he's still 'rankled' by Celtic's failure to win that match.

    As such, he will surely be hoping for a better performance from his players on Saturday.However, what players players should we expect to see come kickoff?

    Well, two players who certainly won't be involved the squad come Saturday are Kieran Tierney and Kolo Toure. Tierney will be recovering from the surgery on his ankle injury, and will thus be unavailable. As such, Emilio Izaguirre will likely once again step in to provide cover at left back. Meanwhile, Kolo Toure has yet to full recover from his injury and will play no part in Saturday's game.



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    Rogic opened the scoring the last time the club's met, will history repeat itself on Saturday?

    On a more positive note however, two of the players who missed Tuesday's match are once again available for selection. Leigh Griffiths has recovered from the illness that ruled him out of the Monchengladbach game and will likely be in contention for a starting place. Brendan Rodgers chose to rest Jozo Simunovic on Tuesday as a precaution, but the Croatian international is likely to start on Saturday.

    Elsewhere on the pitch, the manager will be hoping that Tom Rogic & Scott Sinclair can replicate their exploits from the last meeting with Inverness, where both players managed get on to the scoresheet.



    ICT

    Inverness are currently the only side in Scotland that have managed to take a point from Celtic, and manager Richie Foran will be hoping to repeat, if not improve on, that feat on Saturday.


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    Richie Foran will be hoping that his side can bring Celtic's unbeaten run to an end.

    Caley Thistle are on a mixed run of form coming into this match. Whilst they were dominant against Motherwell, their other matches have mostly either been uneventful draws or narrow losses. Last week's three all draw with Heart's, whilst entertaining, also arguably highlights the Highland sides defensive frailties which is surely a cause for concern against a Celtic side that has racked up a fair number of goals this season

    Inverness' main attacking threat comes in the form of 26 year old Lonsana Doumbouya, who has so far managed a tally of four goals in the the current league campaign. However Celtic may also need to keep an eye on Billy King and Alex Fisher, both of whom managed to get on the scoresheet the last time the sides met - with the latter scoring the levelling goal.




    Last Six Domestic Results:

    Celtic: WWWWWW


    ICT: WDLDWD