Hibs face Celtic challenge

Hibs make the short journey along the M8 to face current SPL champions Celtic safe in the knowledge the Glasgow side are struggling to field a fully fit strikeforce.

With SPL top scorer Georgios Samaras ruled out for around six weeks and Dutchman Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink also unavailable the Celts may be forced to field youngster Cilian Sheridan as Scott McDonald’s strike partner.

The Hoops also have doubts over several other first teamers as they aim to recover from their Champions League mauling at the hands of an impressive Manchester United.

Clashes between the two sides have been pretty close and entertaining over the past few seasons with a few goals normally scored although the last occasion at Parkhead saw a rather one sided 2-0 home victory in a match that saw Hibs end with nine men following the sendings off of Martin Canning and Ian Murray.

This time around sees Hibs in a a somewhat indifferent run of form.

3 wins out of 5 may sound fine but there were many gripes about the performance in last weekend’s Edinburgh Derby and in particular manager Mixu Paatelainen’s formation and his refusal to change the system when clearly losing the midfield battle.

Paatelainen has admitted it’s doubtful as to whether or not he’ll go with a three pronged attack at the home of the champs so it’s likely Colin Nish will make way.

Vital Quotes:

Hibs midfielder Dean Shiels has warned his side to be on guard against the Champions and knows they must guard against the threat of Celtic’s dead ball specialists.

‘They have looked solid in the league this season, although they had a disappointing result the other night against Manchester United,’ Shiels commented to the Edinburgh Evening News.

‘Hopefully, that game will have taken a little bit out of them and we will be catching them at the right time.

‘They’ve brought Shaun Maloney in and they’ve got the likes of Shunsuke Nakamura as well. They’re good players and they are as dangerous from open play as they are from set-pieces.

‘That’s something that our defence and big Maka will have to be aware of. We will need to try to do our best to stop them and we need to make sure that we don’t give away cheap fouls in dangerous areas like we did against Hearts because that cost us.’

With Mixu Paatelainen at Hampden for his unsuccessful appeal against a four match touchline ban which kicks in after the Celtic clash, his assistan Donald Park stood in for the gaffer at the pre-match media conference.

Park admitted to looking forward to the game but urged caution to his players.

‘This is as big a test as they come, it’s a very difficult game. They’ll obviously be raring to go after the game on Tuesday and it will be a very difficult game for us, as it always is, said the Hibees no.2

‘Celtic always play very positively anyway, they’re a very positive team with very positive players, so it’s never very easy.

‘But obviously they might roll up their sleeves a wee bit more and say, ‘Let’s get back and put that game behind us’, and they’ll be looking forward to the next time they play Manchester United.’

Celtic Team News:

Celtic are without Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Georgios Samaras and Andreas Hinkel.

Several others have minor knocks but are expected to recover.

Player to watch: Scott McDonald

Little Aussie striker is always a scoring threat and although not fully fit will need to be watched carefully.

Hibs Team News:

Hibs hope to have Chris Hogg back but are still without Kevin McCann and Irish winger Alan O’Brien.

Left back Paul Hanlon is away on international duty.

Player to watch: Derek Riordan

Deeks will be positively bursting his slightly bigger than normal gut to scor against the club where he endured a torrid two year spell before Hibs rescued him and brought him back to Easter Road.

Suffice to say if he scores his celebration may be one to savour.

Match Facts & Stats

Hibs last win against Celtic at Celtic Park was way back in April 2005.

On that occasion Garry O’Connor, Scott Brown and Ivan Sproule scored the goals which handed Rangers a way back into the title race which they eventuall saw them lift the title after a last day victory at Easter Road after the Celts succumbed to a 2 goal loss at Motherwell.

That particular Hibs victory was Hibs first in some 13 years.

Match Prediction:

As much as Celtic have been performing below par in the SPL it’s unlikely to be a factor in this game.

A comfortable 2-0 win for the Hoops.

Next Fixtures:

Hibs travel to Paisley for a clash against St Mirren next weekend.