Preview: Celtic vs. St Johnstone (H)

Celtic will look to bounce back from Tuesday night’s disappointment and beat a St Johnstone side who registered their first win of the season last time out against Motherwell.

Celtic (Form: WDWWWL)

Deila will be looking for a reaction from the 11 players that start on Saturday and begin healing the wounds from Tuesday night’s exit from the Champions League. Earlier today they were drawn into Group A alongside Ajax, Fenerbahce and Molde.

Celtic have dropped just one point so far this season and will look to continue their unbeaten run in the league and get three points against St Johnstone.

Expect Deila to rotate the squad and give players from last weekend’s 3-1 win over Dundee United another chance to impress him and lay down a marker for the long season ahead.

Celtic have conceded two goals in four of the last five games and must be a concern for Delia that needs fixing.

St Johnstone (Form: WLDDLW)

After beating Motherwell 2-1 last weekend, Tommy Wright’s men will look to pounce on a drained Celtic side and punish their inconsistent defence and lapses in games.

They have failed to keep a clean sheet this season after recording the third best defensive record in last season’s campaign. An early exit from Europe as seen them hit a rough patch that they hope to overcome.

Their defensive solidity was one of the reasons why they ultimately finished fourth last season but have yet to click in defence this year, something that Celtic will hope to expose.

Team news

Defender Virgil van Dijk and winger James Forrest sat out training but should be fine.  The uncertainty surrounding the future of Dutch centre-back could become a lot clearer if he is left out of the Celtic squad. It could also be a farewell should he feature as he looks to take the next step in his career.

Striker Nadir Ciftci is serving the last of his six-game suspension and can then return to the line-up in the domestic league.

Lustig is still struggling with a hamstring injury so it set to miss out.

The Saints addition Darnell Fisher will have to wait to play under new manager Tommy Wright as he can’t play against the leased club, in this case, Celtic. Wright is likely to name an unchanged side that earned the Saints their first win of the season.

Head to head

The two sides played out a goalless draw in their last meeting at McDiarmid Park in May, although the league title was already wrapped up at that stage.

Danny Swanson was the man in charge the last time St Johnstone beat Celtic 1-0 win in the last clash at Paradise.

However, the Bhoys had won the previous two matches earlier in the campaign with 2-1 and 3-0 wins.

History tells us that Celtic have dominated the contest, winning 85 matches compared to St Johnstone’s 24 victories, while 22 of the games have ended in draws.

Prediction: Celtic 3-0 St Johnstone