CAMERON CARTER-VICKERS is fighting to be fit to take his place in the heart of the Celtic defence against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Sunday.
The £6million recruit from Spurs missed the entire second-half of the 3-1 success over Aberdeen at Pittodrie at the weekend with a hamstring injury.
Now Brendan Rodgers could have a call to make on the rock-solid performer ahead of the champions’ first defence of the Viaplay League Cup they won in February when Kyogo Furuhashi fired in a double to dump Michael Beale’s Ibrox outfit 2-1 at Hampden.
SIDELINED…Cameron Carter-Vickers watches the second-half of Celtic’s 3-1 win at Pittodrie.
Carter-Vickers, of course, went under the knife for a knee problem in May and missed the remaining six games of last season.
Rodgers will be aware of the precarious position of playing the USA World Cup centre-back on Killie’s treacherous plastic pitch – even if the player manages to overcome his current issue.
The Irishman refused to field Jozo Simunovic on the Ayrshire surface because of the Croatian’s condition which could have jeopardised his appearances for the rest of a campaign.
He could adopt a similar outlook with Carter-Vickers.
Stephen Welsh came on after the interval in the north east and did enough alongside new Bhoy Maik Nawrocki to get the treble winners over the line.
Rodgers may give the nod to the double-act again against Derek McInnes’ team at the weekend.
