NEIL LENNON reckons the Scottish Cup quarter-final encounter between former clubs Celtic and Hibs at Parkhead on Sunday will be “a humdinger”.
It’s bound to be a no-holds-barred, head-to-head, uncompromising duel between the holders and David Gray’s resurgent Edinburgh side who beat the champions at Easter Road in controversial circumstances 11 days ago.
The two-time Hoops gaffer is looking forward to a classic green party in the east end of Glasgow and believes one player could stand out above all the combatants – Brendan Rodgers’ record £11million summer recruit Arne Engels.
Lennon reckons the 21-year-old Belgian, who arrived from Bundesliga outfit Augsburg on the August deadline day, now accepts what it means to be a Celtic player as he adds hard graft to his creative skills in the engine room of the team.
PEEK-A-BOO…Arne Engels gets involved with St Mirren’s Greg Killie during Celtic’s 5-2 win over St Mirren in Paisley.
The club legend said: “He wasn’t doing that earlier in the season. Defensively, I thought at times he wasn’t at it and that seems to be an area that he’s improved on.
“He made a great challenge the second-half against St Mirren where he ate up the ground and got across. His all-round game is improving all the time.
“I thought he started well, then there was a dip. In some of the games, in terms of Celtic playing tight areas, he was struggling a little bit with the ball. But the last six weeks he’s really flourished.
“I think he’s been brilliant.”
Lennon, speaking to Premier Sports TV, continued: “He was good at Villa, but I thought he was excellent against Bayern Munich in both the games.
“He will have taken a lot of confidence from that. At the minute, his game is excellent.
“The second goal against Aberdeen last week, you saw him in full flow. He ran 60-70 yards to join the counter-attack and he received the ball, gave it back to Jota and Jota scored. The run he made was fantastic.
PICK IT OUT…Arne Engels has the final say after slotting a penalty-kick past St Mirren keeper Zach Hemming for Celtic’s opening goal at the weekend.
“That’s what he always had and now his football in tighter areas is improving, as well. He’s got a great sort of whip cross. He crosses the ball from wide areas really well.
“He just gets it out of his feet and puts it in that area. So his all-round game is improving.
“Nothing seems to faze him. There’s a quiet confidence about him. He speaks well. He’s an intelligent boy. I think he speaks three or four different languages.
“In general, I think his game has come on leaps and bounds in the last couple of months and he’s a player performing with a lot of confidence.”
Lennon also praised Rodgers for the work off the field that is propelling the team to a fourth successive title, their third Scottish Cup in a row and a world record ninth treble.
The Irishman added: “If you look at the squad, whether they start or they come on, they all seem at it. Whatever Brendan’s doing with them behind the scenes, there’s nobody with their heads down or nobody sort of sulking.
“The substitutions they made against St Mirren on Saturday made an unbelievable difference.
IT TAKES TWO…Yang Hyun-jun celebrates one of his double against St Mirren after being congratulated by Arne Engels.
“In the last half hour, going forward, Celtic were breathtaking, absolutely breathtaking. And he’s got that sort of rotation that he can use with quality players. So, it’ll be interesting to see what his starting line-up is on Sunday.
“He seems to be set on a starting eleven, like the one he started with in Munich. And then he substituted them second-half against Hibs, started them again against Aberdeen.
“I would imagine that would be, in his mind, the strongest team at the minute.
“Although Yang Hyun-jun has made a massive contribution, Luke McCowan’s been great, too.
“So all these sort of parts all add up to what’s been a momentous season for them until now. This game is going to be a humdinger.”
