Preview: Celtic vs. Kilmarnock (A)

Celtic will be looking to continue their unbeaten start to the season at Rugby Park on Wednesday night. The Hoops take on a Kilmarnock side yet to score a goal and rooted to the bottom of the league table.

Celtic (Form: WWWWDW)

Celtic are now just two games away from another year of Champions League football, but for the next week they will turn their attention to the domestic league.

After two comprehensive 2-0 victories against Ross County on Flag Day and Partick Thistle on Sunday, Deila will be looking for more killer instinct from his players against a struggling Killie side.

Last time out it was Tom Rogic who stole the headlines, making his first start for Celtic in nearly two years and was praised by Deila after for his performance and resilience coming back from a long injury layoff and loan spell in Australia.

Much has been made of assistant manager John Collins’ comments, which have been blown out of proportion for frankly making a very relevant point about the current state of Scottish football. Celtic will be hoping those comments don’t come back to bite them anytime soon.

Kilmarnock (Form: DWLWLL)

Having only just avoided a relegation playoff in 2014-15, there is a growing concern at Kilmarnock that they could be faced with another relegation dogfight at the end of the season.

Conceding six goals in two games without reply is not how manager Gary Locke envisioned the season starting. After adding former Rangers duo Kris Boyd and Lee McCulloch, the latter joining as a player/coach to help develop younger talent and assist Locke with his experience in the top division in Scotland.

Team news

Utility man Charlie Mulgrew will be part of the squad travelling to Rugby Park after recovering from a knee injury. Following a four-match absence after a knee injury he sustained last month in the friendly against Rennes, Mulgrew could return to the starting XI if Deila feels he is fit to start.

Stuart Armstrong and Scott Brown are likely to be rested again on Wednesday evening with the visit of Malmo to Celtic Park a week tomorrow. Brown’s absence is due to a tight hamstring whilst Armstrong was substituted after 20 minutes on Sunday against Thistle because of a groin complaint.

Nadir Cifcti is still suspended for domestic games, serving the third of the six-game ban.

Chris Johnston has returned to training after missing Sunday’s defeat at Aberdeen and 20-year-old goalkeeper Oliver Davies is also included in the squad after joining on loan from Swansea.

Dale Carrick (hamstring), Craig Slater (hernia), Tope Obadeyi (ankle) and Lee McCulloch (ankle) all remain absent from the Kilmarnock side.

Head to Head

Celtic have won the previous eight matches finding the net 23 times and conceding just five goals in those games.

The most recent match saw Celtic win 4-1 at Celtic Park thanks to a hat-trick from Leigh Griffiths, who came off the bench and Kris Commons bagging the other goal.

Prediction: Celtic 3-0 Kilmarnock