Celtic Park hosts SPFL action once more this weekend after another international break with Hearts making the trip to Glasgow for Saturday’s meeting. This third-last game before the split represents the third meeting between the sides this term with a 2-0 win at Celtic Park in September with both Arne Engels and Luke McCowan scoring their first goals for the club, followed up two months later with a 4-1 win at Tynecastle delivering full points for the Hoops against Hearts so far this term. Going into the game against Neil Critchley’s side, Brendan Rodgers said: “I think it will be a really good game. “After a really difficult start for Hearts this season, they have obviously moved up the table well, Neil has settled in well and now they’re up in the top six and they’ll want to stay there. “So I think it will be a really difficult game for us. They’ve moved to a diamond in their structure in how they’re playing, so having played the diamond before myself, I know that it gives you attacking options in the game. “So we have to respect that quality, but, for me, we’re at home and we need to impose our authority on the game from the very first whistle rather than wait for 20 minutes or 30 minutes to do that. “So that’s on us tomorrow to do that and make it really, really difficult for Hearts.” One player the manager will have to do without against the Edinburgh side is goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel following his injury on international duty for Denmark, on the other hand, though, a number of players not available for the recent derby, such as Callum McGregor and Paulo Bernardo, are back in the running. The manager said: “Availability is important, it was probably one of the things in the last game as well, we were as short as we’ve been probably all season. ‘But Paulo’s back, James Forrest is back in the squad, Auston Trusty will be back in the squad, Callum is back in the squad.’ “Scalesy is training individually, but he will probably not be ready because of his operation, as he can’t play until leading into Kilmarnock, but, apart from that, the squad is in a good place.”And on that derby, Brendan Rodgers said: “When you lose a derby game like that, and especially in the manner at the end, the disappointment lingers on a little bit longer, of course. “We were obviously disappointed with the result. However, what I can’t forget is what this team has done over the course of the season. “We’ve been tremendous through large parts of the season, and now we sit 13 points clear with eight games to go and the possibility of a Scottish Cup final. “We are in a really good place, but, of course, there is always disappointment when you lose one of those games.” He added: “It’s always the way, whenever you lose a game, there’s a setback, there’s a disappointment, and then you have to bounce back. “Of course, I analysed the game and when I look at it away from the context of actually being in it, then that obviously makes it easier to figure out, because I think in both of those Rangers games, at Ibrox and at home, we haven’t started well at all. “And whether it is a subconscious thing, I’m not sure, being 13 points clear or 16 points clear, whether that does have a deep effect on how you enter into the game. It shouldn’t, because our mantra is always to start very quick – and in lots of games we do – but we didn’t, and credit to Rangers because they did. “They got 2-0 up, and then we had to bounce back. But from that second half, we shouldn’t lose the game. It’s a simple as that, we get back into it at 2-0 – 2-2, 15 minutes to go, good in the second half, not giving away much and then we concede the goal. “So the analysis is pretty easy, but that’s my responsibility to make us better the next time.” Watch the full video to hear Brendan Rodgers on: Kasper Schmeichel Viljami Sinisalo Daizen Maeda That goal celebration More on the match Paulo Bernardo is delighted to be back in the frame –
Trending Now
