Player to miss, Predicted Lineup, Teams News: Celtic F.C vs Hearts

Saturday afternoon, Celtic plays home to Hearts. They want to get a win so they can get one step closer to defending their Scottish Premiership title.

Meanwhile, Hearts are going to Glasgow hoping to solidify their third-place finish in the standings after a great season.

Given Rangers’ recent problems, it would be very surprising if Celtic failed to successfully protect their Premier League title over the next few weeks.

But the gap to their Old Firm foes is still only three points, even though they beat St. Mirren and Dundee in a row.

In the second game, Brendan Rodgers’ team had to play out the last 16 minutes to secure an important 2-1 win that kept their fate very much in their own hands.

Also, three of Celtic’s last four games are at Celtic Park. Their only away game is at fourth-placed Kilmarnock.

Despite this, Celtic has only lost two of their last 17 Scottish Premiership games, both of those losses came against Hearts.

Steven Naismith’s team has a great 62 points from 33 games, which almost guarantees them third place at the end of the season.

The Edinburgh-based team has only won three of their last eight games, which is frustrating for everyone involved, but they are still on a four-game winning run.

Celtic has lost two games in a row, with one game being played at home and one being played away. Celtic had won their last 10 games before that.

Rangers are coming to Tynecastle on the last weekend of 2023–24, so Naismith and his team can directly affect where the league title goes.

Rodgers could choose the same Celtic team that started the win at Dundee, as long as there are no new injuries.

In the event that Daizen Maeda is able to return from a hamstring injury as soon as possible, he will most likely only be able to play from the substitutes’ bench.

Adam Idah should also be kept in backup, even though he came on for Kyogo Furuhashi after 62 minutes the last time they played.

Hearts will check on Beni Baningime’s health after the player had to be taken off against Kilmarnock because he was sick.

While Macauley Tait is ready to go into the engine room, Naismith may decide to keep the rest of his starting group.

Possible starting lineup for the Celtics:

Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor, O’Riley, McGregor, and Hatate; Kuhn, Furuhashi, and Forrest

Possible starting lineup for Hearts:

Kent, Rowles, Lembikisa, Devlin, Baningime, Grant, Cochrane, Shankland, and Vargas.