Neil Lennon has allayed fears about the fitness of Jeremie Frimpong after the youngster was on the wrong end of a “robust” challenge from Kilmarnock’s Alan Power in the dying minutes of Celtic’s 3- victory at Rugby Park on Wednesday evening.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the match Lennon said of the 19-year-old‘s injury:
“It looks like it’s hopefully just a bit of bruising,”
“It was a heavy challenge. He got caught on the follow through, so we’ll have to asses him over the next couple of days and hopefully he’ll be okay for the weekend”.
Power was lucky to stay on the park for the challenge – regardless of whether or not he got the ball – he clearly endangered Frimpong with the recklessness of the tackle and on another day could easily have caused greater damage than he did.
Thankfully, as Lennon states, it looks as though Frimpong may be available for the weekend when the Hoops take on Ross County at home in what should be another comfortable three points as they look to increase the pressure on Rangers with them having a difficult away trip to Tynecastle to navigate.
Frimpong has been a revelation this season and has alleviated the problems caused by the injury to Hatem Abd Elhamed, slotting seamlessly into the right-back position with his natural attacking flair.
Lennon’s move to a 3-5-2 should suit him with greater license to get forward and provide the width down Celtic’s right hand side knowing that there is additional cover behind him.
Should Alan Dicker have seen red for the tackle on Jeremie Frimpong?
Yes
No
He has had an interesting week following his comments about the referee’s performance in the 2-1 Scottish Cup victory followed by his injury against Killie but it shouldn’t be long until he is back doing what he does best – terrorising Scottish Premiership full-backs.