Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has given Celtic fans some good news following his side tepid goalless draw against St Johnstone on Sunday afternoon.
Rodgers has revealed that the key first-team trio of Mikael Lustig, Olivier Ntcham and Scott Brown – all of whom missed the game against St Johnstone, although Brown was suspended – should be in line for the second leg of the Europa League tie against Zenit on Thursday night.
The Northern Irishman said, as quoted by the official Celtic Twitter account as follows:
“Olivier Ntcham should be fine. He’s been sick the last couple of days. Scott Brown will available and Mikael should be fine. It was precautionary today.”
?️BR on whether those absent today would be fit for next week: "@OlivierNtcham should be fine. He's been sick the last couple of days. @ScottBrown8 will available & Mika should be fine. It was precautionary today."
More from Brendan Rodgers on https://t.co/00fJCijgWx#CELSTJ— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) February 18, 2018
Celtic weren’t at their best performance against Tommy Wright’s side on Sunday, and have seen their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership cut down to nine points after Rangers’ won 5-2 over Hamilton.
The decision to play so many fringe players was understandable, but the idea didn’t work as Celtic failed to create many clear cut chances, with the best probably falling to Odsonne Edouard, who ended up getting the ball stuck under his feet.
Even the introduction of James Forrest, Moussa Dembele, and Kieran Tierney failed to yield any product as Celtic were held to their second goalles draw of the season.
Rodgers has plenty to think about ahead of a huge week for his side, with the second leg in Russia on Thursday followed by a trip to third placed Aberdeen for a vital league encounter next Sunday.