Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has confirmed both Leigh Griffiths and Jozo Simunovic will be in contention to feature against Livingston tomorrow.
Griffiths has yet to feature in a competitive match so far this season after picking up a muscle injury but has been in first team training for the last week and should get minutes, given the desire to keep Odsonne Edouard completely fit and healthy for the AEK Athens clash next week.
Jozo Simunovic comes back into the squad after missing the last two matches against Rosenborg because of suspension.
Rodgers believes both additions are important.
🗣️ BR: "@Leighgriff09 will be back in the squad and @SimunovicJozo will be available again. That’s two players who are important for us and will add to the squad."
More from Brendan Rodgers ahead of #CELLIV online soon.
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) August 2, 2018
The Celtic boss spoke further on the return of Griffiths to media yesterday, believing that the striker needs to build his fitness up and has been working hard to that end.
As quoted by The Daily Record, Rodgers said:
Leigh has been out for a while. He needs to get his fitness up. He has been working hard at trying to get that up. We have kept him behind to work on that side.
The responsibility is always with the player. My job is very easy. I pick the players who are fit and fighting. Unfortunately, if you are injured you are injured, you can’t help it. It is their responsibility. You can’t keep looking at managers and coaches.
With Tom Rogic, Dedryck Boyata and Mikael Lustig all training after returning from the World Cup, the squad is slowly but surely getting back to the usual standard.
Obviously missing Moussa Dembele is an issue, but with Odsonne Edouard and Griffiths ready to step in, we should still have the firepower to get through the immediate challenges ahead.
What kind of team do you want to see against Livingston? Full strength? Rotation? Full scale changes? Let us know in the comments…