Celtic squad revealed as defensive woes could bring Maik Nawrocki in from the cold at St Mirren

Celtic ended 2023 on the ultimate high by dumping Rangers and the champions will be out to start 2024 in similar fashion.

Brendan Rodgers and his troops opened up an eight point gap - having played two games more than the Light Blues - going into today's final league card before the top flight goes into cold storage for a couple of weeks. Paulo Bernardo and Kyogo Furuhashi hit the derby day goals to delight a full house of Hoops fans at Parkhead and they will be desperate for another three points this evening as they take on a St Mirren side on a high from a confidence boosting 3-0 win on the road at Aberdeen last time out.

The Buddies have their sights on finishing in the top six and making that next step to land European football and pulling off a major upset in Paisley would give them a real shot in the arm going into the shutdown. Come kick-off, both sides will know the state of play in terms of rivals in and around them in the table with the ten other clubs all in action at 3pm, with this one getting underway at 5pm in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

Cameron Carter-Vickers, who missed the triumph over Rangers, will sit this one out again while Stephen Welsh was forced off in that win over Clement's side. Maik Nawrocki came in from the cold and did well and could land a big opportunity from the start to kick start his Hoops career alongside Liam Scales, who has established himself as the key man at the heart of the defence.

Rodgers also stated in the build up to this one that he WON'T rush Liel Abada and Reo Hatate back into action, with the Israeli getting a late run out due to being slightly ahead of his team-mate in terms of recovery. Record Sport takes a look at how Celtic might line up.

Goalkeepers

Defender