Celtic vs St. Johnstone. Scottish Cup Fifth Round.
Celtic ParkAttendance28,404.
Friday 8 February 2019 19:04, UK
Brendan Rodgers is targeting a historic third successive William Hill Scottish Cup triumph as he prepares Celtic for the visit of St Johnstone in the last 16 on Sunday (kick-off 1.30pm).
The Northern Irishman has not lost a domestic cup tie since he took over as Hoops boss in 2016 and is aiming for an unprecedented third successive treble. To do that, Rodgers would need to make it three Scottish Cup final wins in a row for the first time in the club's history.
"It is a big ambition because I'm here to win and win as many trophies as I possibly can," said Rodgers.
"There have been two great (final) days for us when we have been here for different reasons and we want to get into the next round to put ourselves into the hat to have that opportunity to win it again. But we will have to earn it at the weekend.
"It is a great tribute to the players. We have tried to teach them not to be relaxed.
"You always have to prepare well and, as coaching staff and manager, you have to give that detail in preparation so the players will feel that it is a big game, give them that clear purpose going into the game and then they can go and express themselves.
"And the demands at Celtic are to win, to win well, and over my period here that is what the players have done and the ambition is to continue with that."
St Johnstone are facing Celtic for the third time in four games and are desperate to bounce back from a disappointing 2-1 defeat at Hamilton in midweek, which manager Tommy Wright had dubbed the biggest of their season prior to the match.
They came out of both recent back-to-back games with Celtic on the wrong side of 2-0 defeats, and will be hoping it can be third time lucky at Celtic Park to keep up their aims of repeating their 2013-14 feat, when they beat Dundee United in the final to lift the trophy for the only time in their history.
Wright told Saints TV: "If they are not disappointed they shouldn't be here and if they're not going to be ready for Sunday then they shouldn't be here
"Players have got to man up and deal with it and not feel sorry for themselves, and I think the group we have got have never really felt for themselves. So they will be ready come Sunday."
Kristoffer Ajer returns from suspension for the last 16 tie at Parkhead.
Olivier Ntcham, Odsonne Edouard, James Forrest and Kieran Tierney are all back in training following injury, albeit the latter needs to get back up to speed.
Emilio Izaguirre will be assessed after injuring his foot against Hibernian in midweek while Anthony Ralston, Filip Benkovic, Tom Rogic, Eboue Kouassi, Daniel Arzani and Leigh Griffiths remain out for various reasons.
