Martin O’Neill: We have players who can deal with the title race

Another three points are on the line for Celtic this weekend with St Mirren making the trip to Paradise for Saturday’s 3pm kick-off. The Hoops go in to the match on the back of a 2-1 victory over Dundee at Dens Park last weekend, and another victory tomorrow would see Martin O’Neill’s men go in to the Premiership split in a healthy position. Saturday’s game against St Mirren is also the first of a double-header against the Paisley side, with the two sides due to meet again in next week’s Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden. For Martin O’Neill and his side, however, their full focus is on tomorrow’s league match and speaking to the media at Lennoxtown today, the Celtic manager said that he expects St Mirren, with interim manager Craig McLeish at the helm, to come in to the match with confidence and he backed the Hoops to deal with the pressure of the title race. “He (McLeish) has been in charge for three games.” The Celtic manager said. “The first one against Rangers and then two really important wins for the team so they will be pretty confident about coming to our place. “The game next week will take care of itself, it’s at a neutral venue and St Mirren will take heart from the fact that they won the League Cup at that venue. “But I’m not thinking about that one yet, tomorrow is everything for us. ‘We have a number of players who have won titles and that’s great.’ “Sometimes those wins have come when you’ve been so far clear and they’ve deserved it. “But it’s not been a title race like this, but I feel as if we have players who are capable of dealing with it.”Celtic’s first-team squad has been hit with injury concerns throughout the season, however there has been positive news recently with Arne Engels, Alistair Johnston and Callum Osmand all returning to the training pitch. Unfortunately for Julián Araujo though, who has been out of action since the Hoops’ Scottish Cup quarter final win against Rangers at Ibrox, Martin O’Neill does not expect him to feature again for Celtic this season, as he explained in today’s press conference. He said: “Julián reinjured himself at Bournemouth so that’s a real blow. “We’ve only found that out today, so I don’t think we will see him for the rest of the season. “I don’t know what it does for his World Cup aspirations but certainly for us I don’t think we will see him again if it’s the same injury.” MORE ON THE MATCH Training Gallery: Celtic v St Mirren - view now Viljami Sinisalo on the Official Celtic FC Podcast – listen here Pre-match Quiz – test your knowledge Peter Grant: Fans can inspire the players against St Mirren –