Back to the bread and butter

After a highly disappointing draw in the Champions League at home to Aalborg in midweek, Celtic return to SPL action this weekend and face a tough trip to Rugby Park to face one of the season’s early surprises, Kilmarnock.

The champions come into the match with no fresh injury worries after the match on Wednesday, although manager Gordon Strachan is expected to rotate the line up after there were poor performances all round in the match.

Glenn Loovens, Mark Wilson, Marc Crosas, Paul Hartley, Aiden McGeady and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink are all pushing for recalls to the starting XI, and they can all harbour realistic ambitions of getting back into the side after the way the Celts were so average all over the park against Aalborg.

Kilmarnock, who were one of the favourites for relegation before a ball was kicked this season, come into the match off a pretty encouraging display, despite the 2-1 reverse, at the home of the SPL runners up of the last three seasons, Rangers, at Ibrox.

Killie striker Allan Russell is expected to be out for at least a fortnight, while defender Ryan O’Leary is still a long-term absentee. There are no other injury worries for boss Jim Jefferies.

The referee for the match is Mike McCurry, famous for his shocking one-eyed display in the Rangers-Dundee United match last season at Ibrox where he denied the Tangerines a stonewall penalty, amongst other incidents.

It should be a fascinating match on Sunday. Celtic come in as favourites, but Killie have won their opening two home matches of the season 1-0, so they can’t be taken as mugs by the Hoops as they continue their pursuit for 4 in a row, that’s for sure.