CELTIC return to Paradise for a Boxing Day fixture for the first time in EIGHT seasons after a lengthy sequence away from home.
The Hoops won all seven of the previous outings on the road and Brendan Rodgers is determined to maintain that successful run when they take on Motherwell in the 3pm kick-off on Thursday.
The Irishman will also order his players to be more clinical in their finishing after a few squandered chances cost the champions two points in the scoreless stalemate against Dundee United at Tannadice at the weekend.
Reo Hatate kicked off a gallery of gaffes in the tenth minute when he whipped one wide of the target and the misfiring continued well into the second-half with Kyogo Furuhashi another offender with a dithering attempt that hit keeper Jack Walton before being smuggled clear.
DOUBLE JEOPARDY…Reo Hatate misses the target with a low drive in the tenth minute as Jack Walton stretches and (below) it’s Kyogo Furuhashi’s turn to squander an excellent chance with a weak shot against the Dundee United keeper.
On this occasion, though, Rodgers is urging his side to provide some festive cheer for the 60,000 supporters who will head to the east end of Glasgow looking for a celebration on Boxing Day.
The champions, nine points ahead at the Premiership pinnacle going into the penultimate encounter of 2024, won 3-0 at Fir Park earlier in the campaign with strikes from Luke McCowan, Alistair Johnston and Adam Idah.
Looking forward to what is certain to be a keenly-contested tussle, Rodgers said: “It will be tough.
“They’ll defend the space deep and we’ll have to be really bright and clever in order to break through that pressure.
“We had a challenging game against them earlier in the season, so I would expect the same. We would just need to be more clinical in our game than what we have been recently.
“We had a number of guys out on Sunday, so, hopefully, before this game, we’ll see how they are, but we should have one or two back to give us that depth in our squad.”
Rodgers, speaking to the Celtic website, added: “It’s always great to play in front of our own supporters.
“We love playing at home, we love being at home. The crowd give us great support, like they did at Dundee United.
“But it’s one that we’re looking forward to, one we want to take three points and we want to put on a performance that merits all the great support we get.”
