St Johnstone v Celtic – Team news, referee details, KO time & where to watch | OneFootball

Celtic are the visitors to McDiarmid Park tomorrow as St Johnstone, currently bottom of the Scottish Premiership take on the current Champions and league leaders who are three wins away from securing a 13th title in 14 seasons…

Celtic’s 6-0 win against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park, Perth on Saturday 28 September 2024. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Brendan Rodgers side bounced emphatically back from their Glasgow Derby disappointment with an impressive performance in the 3-0 win over Hearts at Celtic Park last Saturday. St Johnstone are five points adrift of second bottom Dundee and six behind Kilmarnock before the weekend fixtures get underway.

Dundee are at home to on-form St Mirren (they hammered Kilmarnock 5-1 last weekend) while Derek McInnes’ side play Motherwell at Rugby Park. St Johnstone head coach Simo Valakari will be hoping for a couple of away wins in those games so that the gap isn’t increased ahead of his side taking on Brendan Rodgers’ team Sunday lunchtime.

Callum McGregor celebrates his goal during Celtic’s 6-0 win against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park, Perth on Saturday 28 September 2024. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

St Johnstone and Celtic play two matches in April and it’s probably more important for Saints to take something tomorrow as they attempt to avoid that dreaded trap door into the Scottish Championship. That’s never been an easy league to get out of with the likes of the two Dundee and Edinburgh clubs and even theRangers all having at least one failed attempt each. St Johnstone have avoided all that drama rather well having 14 consecutive seasons in the top tier of Scottish football.

St Johnstone deserve credit for changing their seating arrangements for their own supporters to accommodate Celtic’s large travelling support in three stands. Had Celtic won the Glasgow Derby then tomorrow could have been the day the Scottish Premiership was won. However while the Celtic support will probably have to wait a few more weeks for the celebrations to get underway, they will still pack out the allocated stands and make the match a much better spectacle.

Callum McGregor applauds the Celtic support. Celtic’s 6-0 win against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park, Perth on Saturday 28 September 2024. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

St Johnstone FC Board statement

A St Johnstone FC Board statement last month, posted on the club’s official website stated:

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Celtic Team News – Trusty to return?

Brendan Rodgers will be without Kasper Schmeichel and Liam Scales for the trip to Perth but will have Auston Trusty available after not being risked last weekend in the win over Hearts. Viljami Silisalo, who yesterday spoke to The Celtic Star, will have the gloves for the next month or so. He certainly looked competent and assured in his Scottish Premiership debut against Hearts last week.

One change expected in the back for with Maik Nawrocki dropping to the bench to make way for Auston Trusty to return to play alongside Cameron Carter-Vickers with Alistair Johnston at right-back and Jeffrey Schlupp on the left.

Kyogo checks his phone ahead of kick-off. Celtic’s 6-0 win against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park, Perth on Saturday 28 September 2024. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Same again in midfield with a three of Callum McGregor, Arne Engels and Reo Hatate and up front Celtic will have Nicolas Kuhn and Jota on the wings and two in a row Scottish Premiership Player of the Month Daizen Maeda through the middle Daizen scored twice against Hearts and jokingly promised to bag a hat-trick in the next game. St Johnstone can’t say they weren’t warned!

Brendan’s thoughts on St Johnstone v Celtic

Brendan Rodgers has had a full week to prepare as the relentless schedule of a match every midweek has ended. “It’s a good feeling because obviously we get a chance to train, we get a chance to figure out maybe any issues that we’ve had in any of the games, and then we can then go into the weekend and look to perform. The feeling’s really good,” the Celtic manager said at his media conference at Lennoxtown on Friday afternoon.

He added: “The players have been brilliant this week in training, I have to say, watching the level. It’s very easy, especially when we’ve had a few days’ sunshine up here, it can feel relaxed. But it’s anything but that at this stage of the season, it’s really about your focus, and then training with a big heart every single day in your training, and then you look to take that into the game at the weekend. So, yeah, the boys have been really good this week.”

Brendan was asked this question yesterday: I think the last time up at Perth was one of the top performances of the season, 6-0. The one before that was the one you took the paint off the wall at half-time. Contrasting emotions in those games, the more recent one is the one you’re going for this weekend?

He replied: “Hopefully, that would be nice. That game that you mentioned, we were waiting on the game and I don’t like the team to wait. We were disappointed in that first half, second half. We were outstanding. Obviously, the performance early in the season up there was so good. The level of the game, the goals, we had a goal disallowed as well, which I felt was a goal. But the focus on the team and the level of the football was at a high level. We’re at the point of the season now where it’s one game a week. We have to be really intense. We have to really go and show our authority in the game. That’s what we aim to do.”

The Celtic Huddle ahead of Celtic’s 6-0 win against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park, Perth on Saturday 28 September 2024. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

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Predicted Celtic Team

Match Officials

Referee David Dickinson at Tannadice, Dundee Utd v Celtic, Sunday 22 December 2024. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

David Dickinson will referee the St Johnstone v Celtic match in the Scottish Premiership tomorrow (6 April). This will be Dickinson’s third match in charge of Celtic this season. He was previously referee for Brendan Rodgers’ side’s 0-0 draw with Dundee United at Tannadice in December. Prior to that, David Dickinson was the referee for Celtic’s 3-0 victory over Motherwell at Fir Park earlier in this season.

Assisting Dickinson on-field are linesman Dougie Potter and Steven Traynor. Manning VAR duties at Clydesdale House is Greg Aitken with Andrew McWilliam taking up the role as AVAR.

Kick-off Time

The St Johnstone v Celtic game kicks off at midday – 12:00 (Celtic Park Time).

Where to Watch

The Scottish Premiership match between St Johnstone v Celtic will be shown live on Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Ultra HDR. For subscribers outside Britain and Ireland, Celtic TV will be broadcasting the match as usual.

Predicted Score

Daizen Maeda, POTM again! Photo SPFL

Celtic have had a 6-0 win at McDiamid Park and a 4-0 win against St Johnstone at Celtic Park this season and it’s hard to see anything other than a victory for the team chasing the title. St Johnstone are battling for survival in the top flight and this could turn out to be tougher challenge than the earlier encounters with Celtic edging it with a 3-1 victory with Daizen getting his hat-trick!

Saints Fans Supporting Foodbanks

Saints foodbank collection

Saints Fans Supporting Foodbank will be collecting on Sunday morning at McDiamid Park ahead of the game between St Johnstone and Celtic. Details are shown below and as usual the Celtic support will do all we can on the day to assist.

Conor Spence

Help raise funds for Celtic Youth Academy by playing the Celtic Pools Weekly Lottery and you could win up to £25,000. The lottery is £1 per week. Click on image to join.

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