Kieran Devlin drops early Celtic team news ahead of County, supporters will be buzzing - opinion

Kieran Devlin has dropped a promising update on the condition of Celtic duo Liel Abada and Jota.

In a recent Q&A on The Athletic, the Celtic correspondent revealed that, after both wingers were left out of Ange Postecoglou’s matchday squad for the 3-0 Scottish Cup win over Dundee United on Monday evening, the pair should recover in time for Saturday’s visit of Ross County.

In his post, Devlin said: “Abada and Jota should both be back for the weekend against Ross County, it seems.”

Considering just how important both Jota and Abada have been since their respective moves to Parkhead last summer, the news that both players should be in line for a return to first-team football this weekend is sure to have left Celtic supporters buzzing.

Indeed, over Jota’s 21 Premiership appearances this season, the £4.95m-rated forward has been in exceptional form for the Hoops, scoring seven goals, registering six assists and creating eight big chances for his teammates, returns which have seen the 22-year-old average an incredibly impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.48 – ranking the Portugal U21 international as the fourth-best player in the top flight of Scottish football.

Meanwhile, over Abada’s 29 league outings this term, the £4.05m-rated winger has also highly impressed, bagging nine goals, providing six assists and creating 13 big chances for his teammates, with these metrics seeing the 20-year-old average a SofaScore match rating of 7.08 – ranking him as the joint 24th-best performer in the division.

As such, it is clear to see that the return of both players will come as a huge boost to Postecoglou and his side this weekend, with nothing but a victory against County being good enough in Celtic’s bid to reclaim their Premiership