Celtic vs Motherwell preview: Brendan Rodgers looking forward to Steelmen challenge

Celtic return to domestic matters on Sunday with a home game against Motherwell after their midweek Europa League exit at the hands of Valencia.

The Hoops are eight points clear of Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership, but Brendan Rodgers is aware that the Steelmen are in top form, having won their last six league matches.

"Motherwell are in a very good run," he said. "They are playing well and we are playing at home and also playing well, and we look forward to the challenge."

And, all eyes will be on the pitch in Glasgow after skipper Scott Brown criticised the playing surface at Celtic Park.

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In January, Rodgers revealed the club's new pitch has been struck down by a "slight disease", and after a gruelling 90 minutes in Spain on Thursday, midfielder Brown made his own comparisons.

He said: "We played really well, played proper football on a proper football pitch, and until the sending off we were the better team, creating chances, and we just didn't get the ball in the back of the net.

"The first performance back at Celtic Park wasn't good enough but then again you look at the difference of the pitches.

"Their pitch was incredible and we knocked the ball about really well. Celtic Park is not so good just now.

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"Hopefully our pitch gets better and we go on a good run in the league now. We spent a lot of money on the park and it is not up to the standard that we want it to be.

"We don't want AstroTurf pitches, we want proper pitches. But we need to make sure we're looking after the pitches and we have the best quality pitches for the SPFL so there is good football and it is not just kick and hope."

Team news

Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney is back in contention to face Motherwell, with the Scotland international having been out since December with a hip injury.

Rodgers will assess his side following the 1-0 loss at Valencia, but Olivier Ntcham, Anthony Ralston, Filip Benkovic, Tom Rogic, Eboue Kouassi, Daniel Arzani and Leigh Griffiths remain out for various reasons.

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Opta stats

• Celtic have won 15 of their last 17 league games against Motherwell at Celtic Park, drawing once and losing once in this time, both under former boss Ronny Deila.
• Motherwell are winless in their last 10 league clashes with Celtic, drawing three and losing seven since a 2-1 win in December 2015.
• Celtic have won all 13 of their home league games this season; only Celtic in 2000-01 (14), Celtic in 2001-02 (18), Rangers in 2002-03 (16) and Celtic in 2016-17 (14) have had a better 100% winning start on home soil to a Scottish Premiership campaign.
• Motherwell have won six consecutive league matches, their joint-best ever streak in the Scottish Premiership alongside a six-game streak under Stuart McCall ending in January 2014 - a run which came to an end via a defeat away at Celtic.
• Four of Motherwell's last seven league goals have been scored by Jake Hastie, with these four goals coming in their last three games.

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