Celtic vs St. Johnstone. Scottish Premiership.
Celtic ParkAttendance58,446.
Saturday 26 August 2017 13:57, UK
Brendan Rodgers will assess Jozo Simunovic ahead of Celtic's Scottish Premiership game against St Johnstone at Parkhead on Saturday.
The Hoops defender has missed the last two matches with a knock but trained on Friday morning to boost his chances of being involved in the clash of two early pacesetters.
Defender Dedryck Boyata is back training after recovering from a knee injury but is a few weeks away from full fitness while stopper Erik Sviatchenko, midfielder Eboue Kouassi (ankle) and striker Moussa Dembele (hamstring), remain out.
Celtic have continued a remarkable unbeaten domestic run which dates back to May 2016 - when they lost 2-1 at McDiarmid Park - by winning all of their league games so far.
But Saints have won three out of three themselves and sit just one goal behind last season's treble-winners.
"It's a top-of-the-table clash but it is only three games in so we are not going to get carried away with it," said St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright.
"We are pleased with the start we have made. Confidence is high and performances have been good.
"We do know in this league that you can very quickly lose three or four in a row and we have the most difficult game of the season, playing a team who have been on fire again.
"We know it will be a hard afternoon but we know if we can keep possession better we can hopefully cause them problems as well."
Wright could thrust Denny Johnstone, who has arrived on a season-long loan from Colchester United, straight into action against Rodgers' side.
Celtic won all four meetings between the two sides last season, scoring 14 goals in total (2.5 per game).
St Johnstone haven't beaten Celtic at Celtic Park since a 1-0 win in March 2015, losing the four away fixtures since then by an aggregate score of 11-3.
The Hoops are on a 42-game unbeaten run in the Scottish Premiership (W38 D4). In fact, St Johnstone were the last team to beat them in the league in May 2016.
St Johnstone have won their opening three matches of the Scottish Premiership season for the first time. Indeed, they have won five of their last six league games (L1).
Celtic's Scott Sinclair has scored four goals in his last four games in all competitions, as many as he had scored in his previous 12 prior to this run.
