MARTIN O’NEILL sifted through Celtic’s injury list as he prepared the champions for tomorrow’s crucial must-win Premiership encounter against St Mirren at Parkhead.
Julian Araujo has almost certainly kicked his last ball for the Hoops after suffering a reaction to his rehab work at parent club Bournemouth.
And Colby Donovan is out for the visit of the Paisley club in the first of a double-header with the teams locking horns again in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden a week on Sunday.
Tomorrow’s league outing is still too early for a return for Alistair Johnston, as CQN suggested yesterday.
On the plus side Arne Engels trained at Lennoxtown this morning and there was also a sighting of striker Callum Osmand who has not featured since he limped off with a hamstring injury in the 3-1 loss in the Europa League game against FC Midtjylland in Denmark in November.
Confirming the news about fans’ favourite Araujo, O’Neill said: “It’s a real blow, I’ve only just found that out today.
“I don’t think we will see him for the rest of the season if it is the same injury he has redone.”
Offering an update on Donovan and Johnston, O’Neill, speaking to Celtic TV, continued: “It hopefully won’t be too long for Colby. He’ll also miss next week, but he’s doing well.
“Johnston trained with the team today, which was very encouraging. I don’t think he felt any ill effects, but he did join in before and then reinjured himself with the national team.”
Anthony Ralston, hoping to get the nod from Steve Clarke to join his 25-man World Cup Finals squad in the summer, is likely to deputise at right-back.
Looking at the back-to-back fixtures against the Paisley club, the Hoops interim-boss stated: “The game next week will take care of itself, it’s at a neutral venue and St Mirren will take heart from the fact that they won the League Cup at that ground.
“But I’m not thinking about that one yet, tomorrow is everything for us. We have a number of players who have won titles and that’s great.’
“Sometimes those wins have come when you’ve been so far clear and they’ve deserved it.
“But it’s not been a title race like this. However, I feel we have players who are capable of dealing with it.”
Following the news of the Green Brigade’s return to Parkhead after the lifting of their suspension, O’Neill added: “The safety regulations have been sorted and that will give us a boost.
“I would like to park things now and see what the summer brings.”
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