Team news: Celtic and Kilmarnock announce starting line-ups for Scottish Premiership clash

Celtic all-but wrapped up the Scottish Premiership title last week and they can take another significant step closer to being officialy crowned champions when the face Kilmarnock at Rugby Park this afternoon.

The Hoops have been utterly relentless in their consistency and quest to retain the top-flight title this season and it’s now seemingly a question of when they will get their hands on the trophy again following an incident-pakced 3-2 Old Firm derby win over Rangers last Saturday.

Ange Postecoglou’s side haven’t been at their best in recently weeks and Kilmarnock, who are desperate for points in their survival bid, will take plenty of optimism from their encouraging home record. However, Derek McInnes have won only SIX games in 47 previous meetings against the Parkhead side from his time as manager at St Johnstone, Aberdeen and now Killie.

Celtic ran out comfortable 5-0 winners on their previous trip to Ayrshire back in August and it’s a real sign of their strength in depth that Postecoglou’s men can still churn out maximum points despite a slight dip in performance levels of late.

The Australian has made THREE changes to the side who defeated Rangers at Parkhead last weekend. Yuki Kobayashi makes just his third starts at centre-back in favour of Cameron Carter-Vickers, who drops out of the matchday squad alltogether. Tomoki Iwata and Sead Haksabanovic are given the nod over Aaron Mooy and Jota, with the Portuguese winger also not included in the squad.

Anthony Ralston is named among the substitutes after a recent spell on the sidelines through injury, B-team youngsters Ben Summers and Rocco Vata are also on the bench. Reo Hatate, Liel Abada and James Forrest are absent through injury.

So here’s your confirmed starting line-ups ahead of the Scottish Premiership clash...

Celtic starting XI (4-3-3)

Joe Hart; Alistair Johnston, Yuki Kobayashi, Carl Starfelt, Greg Taylor; Callum McGregor (c), Tomoki Iwata, Matt O’Riley; Daizen Maeda, Sead Haksabanovic, Kyogo Furuhashi.

And the bench...

Scott Bain (GK), Aaron Mooy, David Turnbull, Oh Hyeon-gyu, Alexandro Bernabei, Ben Summers, Anthony Ralston, Stephen Welsh, Rocco Vata.

Kilmarnock starting XI (4-4-2)