Celts' Post Christmas Begins at Easter Rd

Celts' Post Christmas Begins at Easter Rd
~~~~~~~~~~ Official TC Match Preview ~~~~~~~~~~


Reo Hatate scored twice and put in a MOTM perfornance against St Johnstone


Easter Road Stadium, Edinburgh
Wednesday, 28 December 2022
20.00 GMT

The Hoops travel through to the Capital to close out what has been a very successful 2022, when they line up against Hibernian.

Victory on Wednesday will be a 12th consecutive league win and with a derby match just a few days away, Ange Postecoglou will be wanting the Bhoys to not just take the points but continue in the style that was on display in the 4-1 win over St Johnstone on Christmas Eve.

The Celts had been dominating in the wins over Aberdeen and Livingston without displaying the clinical finishing, which made for both to end up being closer on the scoreboard than the balance of play suggested they deserved.

However, the forthright Australian boss addressed left the dressingroom in no uncertain terms about those performances, the Bhoys produced a far more convincing and clinical display against St Johnstone and will be looking for more of the same against Hibernian on Wednesday evening.​

Kyogooooaaaallll!: O'Riley and Kyogo combined for the Bhoys second goal on Saturday

Lee Johnston's side snapped an extensive losing streak on Christmas Eve, with a resounding 4-0 victory over Livingston - but that has to be placed in context. The visitors were reduced to 10 men early in the first half and despite Livi later being awarded 2 penalties in less than 2 minutes, Hibs had former Celtic shotstopper David Marshall in fine form and able to deny both to keep his clean sheet in tact.

The win though, was the first for the Easter Road side after a string of 4 back to back losses, and a run of just 1 win in the last 8 outings overall. Despite that run of form, they are just 2 points out of third, highlighting both how strong a start to the season that they had, and what they are potentially capable of when things click.

Hibs have had a knack of making life difficult at times in recent years for Celtic, Since COVID shutdown the 2019/20 season early, the sides have shared the spoils on 4 of the 9 meetings, (and Celtic winning 4 of the past 5) with the last meeting resulted in a resounding 6-1 win for the Hoops, back in October.


October: James Forrest netted a hatrick as Celtic produced a 6-1 masterclass at Paradise

By the Numbers​

• The Hoops are currently on a 11 Premiership game winning streak going into this match.

• The Hoops are undefeated by Hibs since December 2018 - but have had to share the spoils on 6 occasions since then, with Celtic having won 4 of the last 5 clashes.

• Celtic have won on just 1 of the past 6 league visits to Easter Road.

• Celtic have had just 2 league clean sheets in 12 games since the 4-0 win over Sevco at the beginning of September.

• Hibernian have been slow starters at home this season, having scored just 1 goal and conceded 2 in the first 30min of league matches at Easter Road.

The forthright Ange Postecoglou got the performance he wanted from his team on Saturday

Team News

The Celts will be without David Turnbull, who is suspended following his red card on Saturday, in addition to Tony Ralston (back), Stephen Welsh (niggle) and James McCarthy (hamstring).

Reo Hatate could feature once again from the right fullback spot, as Josip Juranovic, although back in Glasgow now, is unlikely to be involved in this match after returning from the World Cup.

As for Hibs, Johnston doesn't have to make any unforced changes to the side that recorded the 4-0 win over Livingston on Saturday, but could also welcome back Mykola Kutharevych, even if the Ukranian striker is more likely to be used from off the bench, if he is involved.​

Referee: Alan Muir

This will be Muir's 5th Premiership match of the season and will be his 200th in total since making his debut in April 2008. The last time Muir referee'd Celtic was the 6-0 Motherwell game at the end of 2021/22 season.

Celtic's Overall Record
M: 36 W: 32 D: 4 L: 0

VAR: Andrew Dallas​

~~~~ Head to Head ~~~~

Overall
P: 317 W: 182 D: 81 L: 54​

Last 5 Meetings
W D W W W

~~~~ 2022/23 Form ~~~~ ​

Overall
W W W W W ~ W L L L L

SPFL
W W W W W ~ W L L L L​