Saints v Celtic preview

Last updated : 25 September 2009 By Stuart Gillespie

Before you wonder what I'm on about, consider this. Unlike the game against St. Johnstone and, to a lesser extent, the match against Dundee United, there is no pressure on us. We are not expected to win. Anything we take from games against the Old Firm is a bonus. Our normal, rather dull, style of play may actually suit us in this one as we come up against a far better side. Plus, we've already beaten Celtic at our new ground. If we play like we did when we knocked them out of the Scottish Cup, we have a pretty good chance of taking something from the game. Of course, Celtic will probably be helped by the usual dodgy decisions they usually get against us, but let's ignore that for now.

Tomorrow will almost certainly see Chris Innes play his first game for Saints at Greenhill Road. Lee Mair's suspension leaves a rather gaping hole in defence and Innes will slot right into it. It's over 10 years since he last played for us, during a loan spell from Kilmarnock at the start of 199, and it'll be interesting to see what he's like now. He was pretty good back then and he is a wee bit taller than John Potter, which could help. He might not be the only one making his debut after the midweek signing of Allan Johnstone, but if the veteran midfielder is to feature it'll probably be from the bench.

There is, however, likely to be at least one change in midfield. Andy Dorman notched his first goal of the season during the week and is hopefully getting back to his best, meaning he could return to the midfield alongside Jack McGinn's grandson. Who he replaces is a mystery, but I'm going to make a bold prediction and say Hugh Murray will be dropped to make way for him, unless Garry Brady is still knackered from his lungbursting run against Kilmarnock that saw him beat seven players! The injured trio of Steven Robb (yes, he's injured again), Mo Camara (just had an operation) and Chris Smith will join bad boy Mair in the stands.

We may have beaten Celtic a few months ago, but there have been major changes at Parkhead since then as Tony Mowbray has replaced Gordon Strachan in the manager's office. This will now doubt delight their fans who seem to think Mowbray will have the team playing the "Celtic way", whatever that is supposed to mean. I reckon it'll prove to be a myth and they'll only play slightly better than they did under Strachan, who many fans hated despite the fact he won them three league titles!

Mowbray has certainly brought in plenty of players to try to help Celtic play in this way their fans supposedly demand. Marc-Antoine Fortune and Landry N'Guemo have signed from France, while Chinese international Zheng Zhi should help sell some shirts - and he can't possibly be as bad as Du Wei. Danny Fox is looking handy at leftback and looks set to defect to the Scottish national side, which might not go down well with Boys fans. Mythical figures such as Paddy McCourt, Niall McGinn and Chris Killen have also been playing recently, perhaps because Mowbray found them down the back of a chest of drawers while doing some tidying. Diving cheat Shunsuke Nakamura is no more but they still have plenty of old threats, including Scott McDonald and Shaun Maloney, that the Saints defence will need to watch closely.