Ross County host the reigning Scottish champions Celtic on Saturday afternoon.
Malky Mackay’s side finished fourth last term after a painfully slow start that encompassed ten winless games to open the campaign. Celtic didn’t get off to a flyer themselves in 2021/22 but swatted Aberdeen aside last weekend with a 2-0 win that could have been more flattering given the chances that fell the way of the champions.
Here’s everything you need to know about the meeting between these two.
Where can you watch Ross County vs Celtic Highlights?
H2H Results (Last Five Games)
Ross County: 1
Celtic: 4
Draws: 0
Current Form (Last Five Games)
Ross County: WWWWL
Celtic: WDDWW
Ross County team news
Ross County’s chief absentee comes in the form of the summer arrival William Akio. The South Sudanese winger suffered a knee injury during his club debut in the Scottish League Cup against East Fife.
Akio assisted two of Ross County’s seven goals after coming on for the injured Josh Sims, who has shaken off that knock.
Ross County Starting 11: Laidlaw; Randall, Baldwin, Iacovitti, Purrington; Sims, Callachan, Tillson, Edwards; Samuel, Hiwula.
Bench: Eastwood, Johnson, Watson, Loturi, Dhanda, Olaigbe, White.
Celtic team news vs Ross County
Reo Hatate was removed from Celtic‘s opening day win over Aberdeen holding his jaw after a match in which “he copped a couple of hard knocks”, as his manager Ange Postecoglou put it.
The Japanese midfielder is expected to shrug off those bumps and bruises but Carl Starfelt (hamstring) and Yosuke Ideguchi (leg) aren’t likely to feature so early this month.
Celtic Starting 11: Hart; Juranovic, Carter-Vickers, Welsh, Taylor; McGregor, Hatate; Jota, O’Riley, Maeda; Furuhashi
Bench: Siegrist, Jenz, Raltson, Turnbull, Mooy, Abada, Giakoumakis
Despite falling to a 2-1 defeat against Hearts, Mackay took a wealth of positives from the ‘terrific’ performance of his side. While Postecoglou bemoaned Celtic’s clinical edge, results have consistently fallen their way regardless of the performance in Scotland’s top flight.
As encouraging as Ross County’s display may have been, they remain underdogs in their bid to inflict Celtic’s first Scottish Premiership defeat since September.
Prediction: Ross County 0-2 Celtic
