DAVID TURNBULL will make his first start for Celtic in today’s Premiership High Noon showdown with St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.
The midfielder, bought from Motherwell for £3.25million in August, takes his place while skipper Scott Brown and Scotland international Ryan Christie get well-earned rests as they move to the substitutes’ bench.
Turnbull is one of three changes made by boss Neil Lennon from the line-up that kicked off in the 1-0 win over Sarajevo in Bosnia on Thursday night to reach the Europa League group stages where they will play Sparta Prague, AC Milan and Lille.
The youngster looked comfortable when he came on as a second-half sub in the 3-0 victory over Hibs at Parkhead last weekend where he set up Mohamed Elyounoussi for the third goal.
The 21-year-old will be joined in the engine room by Oliver Ntcham while Hatem Abd Elhamed gets the nod ahead of Christopher Jullien to take his place alongside Shane Duffy and Kristoffer Ajer in the heart of the rearguard.
The Israeli replaced his fellow-countryman Nir Bitton when he limped off with an ankle knock after only 10 minutes of the play-off tie in Bosnia.
TEAM; Barkas; Elhamed, Duffy, Ajer; Frimpong, Turnbull, Ntcham, McGregor, Taylor; Elyounoussi; Edouard. Subs: Bain, Jullien, Brown, Griffiths, Klimala, Soro, Christie, Rogic, Welsh.
* DON’T miss the unbeatable match report from St Johnstone v Celtic this afternoon – only in your champion CQN.
