da leao： Celtic are coming to the end of what could be a truly momentous league season. The Hoops are just two games away from an unbeaten league season and three games away from an unbeaten domestic season across three competitions.
da brwin： It’s quite incredible, even with the difference in resources Celtic have over the rest of Scottish football. Brendan Rodgers has come into the club and improved upon what was already a solid foundation.
One of the last challenges is an away trip to Partick Thistle, a team who are having their best season in the top-flight for over 30 years.
The challenge Rodgers has in his team selection is rotating enough to prepare for the Scottish Cup Final and keeping the starting XI in strong enough shape to avoid any dramatic slip ups in their quest for that unbeaten season.
It’s a good opportunity to give some players who have been on the fringes of the squad recently to get a start and some much needed game time and allow the manager to check on their first team progress ahead of vital summer qualifiers.
Here are three stars we reckon should play against Thistle…
Liam Henderson
Liam Henderson has been in and around the Celtic squad all season but has only made six starts for the club since Brendan Rodgers arrived. The fact he continues to make the bench and make sub appearances says a lot for his ability, the Hoops boss wouldn’t have him around if he didn’t think he could make a contribution.
He hasn’t started for Celtic since February when he lined up in the midfield in a 2-0 home win over Motherwell and deserves another shot to show what he can do from the start.
It’s easy to forget but he is still 21 years old and has his whole future ahead of him at Celtic, even if he hasn’t quite had the first team football to push on this season.
He famously scored his first Celtic goal at Firhill a few years ago when he netted to help the Hoops seal a league title and obviously likes the venue.
Can he put in a performance to get supporters buzzing on Thursday night?
Cristian Gamboa
Cristian Gamboa has had a solid debut season at Celtic Park but has failed to displace Mikael Lustig for a regular start on the right hand side of defence. He’s made 19 appearances for the Hoops and in most of those he’s looked an effective presence on the right flank.
He offers pace and desire to get into the final third which could come in hand on against what will be an organised Partick Thistle defence on Thursday night.
It’s likely the right-back position will be fought over between Lustig and Gamboa again next season and it’s important to keep both at peak match fitness ready for the challenges ahead, should Lustig pick up an injury.
The Costa Rican has only started one match since February and rotating him into the side would give Lustig a bit of mid-week rest ahead of the Hearts and Aberdeen games over the next two weeks.
Erik Sviatchenko
Erik Sviatchenko started the season as arguably the first choice Celtic centre-back and has ended it as arguably the third choice. It hasn’t been the most rewarding of seasons for the Danish international as the emergence of Jozo Simunovic and the re-introduction of Dedryck Boyata has seen Brendan Rodgers find a trusted and consistent partnership in the heart of defence.
Still Sviatchenko has plenty to offer and when full of confidence and in peak form is an outstanding central defender at this level. In Europe too he can compete and giving him game time ahead of the qualifiers could be important to keep his spirits high.
He hasn’t started a game for over a month now and in place of either Simunovic or Boyata should come back into the team for what will probably be his last appearance of the season.