da cassino online： Fresh from winning their first silverware of the season in last week’s Scottish League Cup Final, Celtic travel to Motherwell on Saturday eager to extend their lead at the top of the table.
da 888： Eight points clear of second place with three games in hand, Celtic are romping towards more domestic glory under new boss Brendan Rodgers.
The Hoops have also played 13 hours of domestic football since last conceding a goal, looking unstoppable against anything a Scottish side has to throw at them.
Can they continue that? Motherwell have already been on the end of 2-0 and 5-0 defeats to Celtic this season, struggling to deal with the threat of Moussa Dembele, Scott Sinclair and Tom Rogic.
With Aberdeen and Rangers playing later in the day, Celtic have a real chance to stamp even more authority on the division and move further clear.
Football FanCast have picked the XI to beat Motherwell and move Celtic 11 points ahead at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
GK: Craig Gordon
Craig Gordon is once again reaching the best of himself in Celtic colours and hasn’t conceded a domestic goal since coming back into the side at half-time vs Kilmarnock, replacing Dorus de Vries.
De Vries for a time looked like taking his number 1 spot but that seems unlikely going forward with Gordon producing some outstanding saves, most notably at Pittodrie and at home to Barcelona.
Getting more comfortable with Rodgers’ system of playing out from the back, it’d be silly not start him at Fir Park.
RB: Mikael Lustig
Mikael Lustig is producing some of the best performances of his Celtic career under Brendan Rodgers. His contract is up the summer but fans will be hoping a deal can be reached with the Swedish international, who shows passion and commitment for the club week-in, week-out.
Cristian Gamboa has struggled to get a regular game ahead of Lustig and we see that continuing on Saturday, although Gamboa is likely to feature in December with a heavy run of fixtures coming up.
CB: Jozo Simunovic
Finally in a position to start playing games both at the weekend and midweek, Simunovic is slowly making himself irreplaceable at the back for Celtic.
Since returning from injury, Simunovic has shown the ability many said he had the potential for upon signing in a multi-million pound deal from Dinamo Zagreb.
The Croatian was close to leaving Celtic in the summer but supporters are now pleased he’s stayed in Glasgow and they won’t want to see him dropped against Motherwell.
CB: Erik Sviatchenko
Erik Sviatchenko is loving life at Celtic having already picked up two trophies since arriving in January. He’s in a position to end 2016 as one of the Hoops’ best players with consistent performances at the back under both Ronny Deila and Rodgers.
Never one to shirk responsibility, his positional awareness along with his tackling and aerial ability should be enough to prevent Motherwell from scoring.
His partnership with Simunovic is still in its early stages but there’s already signs the relationship could be one of Celtic’s best defensive pairings in years.
LB: Emilio Izaguirre
With the injury to Kieran Tierney, there’s really no other choice at left-back than Emilio Izaguirre.
Thankfully for fans then, Izaguirre is performing well in the position. His busy work on the left in defence an attack has been a positive for supporters who feared what impact Tierney’s absence could have on the side’s performances.
He’s done it all before domestically for Celtic and is a solid option for Saturday.
CM: Scott Brown
Currently many Celtic fans’ first name on the teamsheet, captain Scott Brown is the obvious choice in the middle of the park.
Only the legendary Billy McNeill has lifted more trophies for the club than Brown, which is remarkable when you consider their League Cup win last Sunday was the 100th major honour won by the Parkhead outfit.
Brown’s tireless work in midfield has been the beating heart of Rodgers’ Celtic side and we expect that to continue against the Steelmen.
CM: Stuart Armstrong
In Stuart Armstrong, Rodgers has found a partner for Scott Brown who is more effective for the team than Nir Bitton.
With endless energy, Armstrong is freed by the defensive work of Brown to get himself forward in support of the relentless Celtic attack.
He’s scored three goals from midfield this season and if his current upward trend continues, could add many more before the campaign ends.
We reckon this is the pairing that is most likely to dominate the middle third at Fir Park.
RW: James Forrest
James Forrest’s surging run and finish in last week’s Scottish League Cup final was the culmination of his resurgence as a Celtic winger this season.
Scoring six goals in 24 appearances thus far, Forrest is playing some of the best football of his career under Rodgers, just one of a number of players already at Celtic Park to benefit from his arrival.
Forrest scored his first professional goal against Motherwell on his debut for the Bhoys and will head to Fir Park full of confidence that he can do the business again after his contribution to winning Celtic’s 100th major honour.
AM: Tom Rogic
Tom Rogic is arguably having his best season in Celtic colours so far and is increasingly becoming one of the side’s most important players.
The ruthless streak he showed to dip onto his left hand side and smash a shot past Aberdeen in last week’s cup final was the base Celtic built a victory at Hampden Park upon.
He has the opportunity to bring his goal tally this season to double figures on Saturday, this first time he’ll have ever done so in his career.
LW: Patrick Roberts
Despite not showing the form of last season on a consistent basis under Rodgers, Manchester City loanee Roberts is still one of the Scottish Premiership’s most unique talents.
Roberts has scored against Motherwell before, netting in the 7-0 demolition of the Lanarkshire outfit in May.
Saturday could be another chance for him to impress in Scott Sinclair’s absence and show why he is still a force to be reckoned with at Celtic.
ST: Moussa Dembele
It’s a testament to Moussa Dembele that he’s made himself irreplaceable at Celtic in the wake of Leigh Griffiths’ incredible 40-goal season last year.
With 17 goals already, including another is last week’s cup final, Dembele hasn’t let transfer speculation or hype affect his game to any great degree.
Scott Sinclair is actually outscoring him in the league and Dembele will be keen to add one or two at Motherwell to up his tally and continue his incredible season.