It’s possibly Celtic’s biggest game since the UEFA Cup Final in 2003 as Hearts visit Celtic Park a point ahead of the current Champions knowing that if they can avoid defeat they will be the ones lifting the Scottish Premiership trophy at Celtic Park tomorrow afternoon…
For Celtic the task is simple. Win the match and retain the title, securing 5IAR, a 14th title in 15 seasons and a record breaking 56th title. And a year on from failing to do anything at all about organising somewhere for the Celtic supporters to celebrate IF we win the match against Hearts tomorrow, Glasgow City Council, Police Scotland and Celtic have all done nothing to facilitate the inevitable celebrations if the Hoops win the league.
If Hearts win watch the difference in Edinburgh, there will be an open top bus parade and the Edinburgh Council will do all that’s necessary to make it a splendid occasion for the Hearts supporters.
Back to the football…
Celtic Team News
Martin O’Neill won’t want to make many changes from Wednesday night’s hard-fought 3-2 win at Motherwell. The team pretty much picks itself with perhaps one change expected. Two players you could have had an issue with based on midweek are Benjamin Nygren and Sebastian Tounekti.
Nygren was anonymous then out of nowhere he scores that fantastic second Celtic goal against Motherwell. That says enough about how vital that the Swede is to this Celtic team. Frustrating, certainly. Droppable, not really.
Tounekti yet again got a start after doing well coming off the bench. He then failed to make any sort of impact and will be back on the bench, which is no bad thing as he always does well as a substitute. Round and round it goes. So it could well be a seat on the bench for our Tunisian winger with the experience of James Forrest getting utilised.
So expect the Celtic team to start against Hearts to be as follows:
Viljami Sinisalo; Alistair Johnston, Auston Trusty, Liam Scales, Kieran Tierney; Callum McGregor (c), Arne Engels, Benjamin Nygren; James Forrest, Daizen Maeda and Yang.
On the bench for Celtic tomorrow we expect to see the following: Doohan; McCowan, Iheanacho, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Saracchi, Hatate, Murray, Tounekti and Ralston.
Martin O’Neill confirmed at his media conference today that there are no new injury concerns.
Match OfficialsÂ
Don Robertson will referee the match, presumably under intense scrutiny from Derek McInnes who will scream and scream and make himself sick if he doesn’t get everything his own way. Calum Spence and David Roome will run the lines while Kevin Clancy will be leading the VAR operation assisted by Matthew MacDermid.
Kick-Off TimeÂ
Celtic v Hearts, to decide who is to be the Scottish Champions for season 2025/26, takes place at Celtic Park and the match kicks off at 12.30pm on Saturday, 16 May, 2026.
Where to WatchÂ
Celtic v Hearts will be shown live on both Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football, with coverage getting underway from 11:30pm.
Celtic TV will also be showing the game live for subscribers based outside of Britain and Ireland.
Highlights will also be shown on Sportscene on BBC One Scotland from 7.15pm, and repeated at 12.10am.
Celtic supportersÂ
The atmosphere at Celtic Park last Sunday was absolutely incredible as the home support roared on the team to a 3-1 over Rangers, who had around 2000 supporters at the game, much more than Hearts will have tomorrow. Â Here’s the message going out to the 60,000 Celtic supporters heading along to Paradise.
Make Some Noise for the Bhoys!
Hearts SupportersÂ
Hearts will have around 800 supporters at Celtic Park, a lower sum that they would otherwise have been the case but for the Tynecastle club drastically reducing the Celtic away allocation. It’s been 66 years since Hearts last won the title and from their fans perspective they would have loved to have been at the game to see their team go for the title. You reap what you sow and all that.
Predicted Score
The bookies are seldom wrong and they have Celtic as odds on favourites to win tomorrow and to win the League. This will be a remarkable achievement for Celtic and the certainly the sweetest form the other 13 titles secured over the last decade and a half. Martin O’Neill will get most of the credit and rightly so. Â The momentum is with Celtic.
Daizen is back to his unstoppable best. We have significant goal threats on the bench. Â We’ve had two 3-1 home wins at Celtic Park since the split. This time I reckon we’ll score three again while Sinisalo will get his clean sheet.
Predicted score Celtic 3 Hearts 0.Â
COYBIG!
HAVE YOUR SAY…Tell us your thoughts on that dramatic match at Fir Park and what it means for Saturday as Hearts come to Celtic Park for a title showdown. Â Post in the comments section below…
Quick Tip – Add Celticshorts.com as your ‘Preferred Source’ on Google News for quick access to the Celtic content you value the most. It takes just a few seconds and you’ll notice the difference straight away! – Click HERE….Hail Hail!
1 Comment
Celtic cant afford to sit back and defend if there leading took A two goal lead then let Falkirk score then squeeky bum time for us Celtic supporters yes we have done it a few times I have no doubt if every player plays to there pontental our midfield gas Engels he has put some strenght it our midfield nygrin goals has done well for us but hiwmany goals against cause ge cant tackle well players no keeping your body fit for the next game this is it final not next week trebles gone this for the club the final and hearts will make it hard they will be going down every touch so they can use there main weapon against weapon oposition there high balls in to the box hopefully Robertson will not be under to much pressure from from the hearts bench whos manager we all no hates anybody cheating and that means sending your players out to get fouls no matter how in his words disgusting to do that but its all downed to the men in hoops they must know now that every club abd player want to beat Celtic some cause its live tv and watch by most coaches in europe some cayse the hate Celtic but most of all there professional players and uts good on your CV cause Celtic have top players and you want to prove your better