Celtic resume their Scottish Premiership 2020-21 campaign after a gap of two weeks on Saturday when they travel to Dingwall to face Ross County at the Victoria Park.
The reigning champions find themselves third in the league standings at the moment, six points behind league leaders Rangers but have played two games fewer than their Glasgow neighbours.
The game is set to be one of the two Scottish Premiership test events alongside Aberdeen vs Kilmarnock and up to 300 supporters per venue will be allowed to attend the games.
The Hoops are undefeated in the league so far and can extend their unbeaten run to five games against Ross County who have not won a game since August 8.
Ross County vs Celtic Head-to-Head
Ross County and Celtic have gone head-to-head across all competitions 26 times and, as one would expect, The Celts have been the more dominant side. Celtic have won 17 games, six ended in stalemates while The Staggies could only inflict a loss on their heavyweight opponents on three occasions.
Ross County have only won one Scottish Premiership game against Celtic and that win came in the 2012-13 campaign. Their latest win was the 3-1 triumph in the League Cup semi-final in 2016 and they have not won a game against Celtic since.
In their last 11 meetings, Celtic have recorded nine emphatic victories with an amazing 32-4 aggregate score. In terms of recent form, Celtic again hold the upper hand.
Ross County form guide: L-D-L-D-W
Celtic form guide: W-L-W-W-D
Ross County vs Celtic Team News
Ross County
Head coach Stuart Kettlewell oversaw six new arrivals at Dingwall before the start of the campaign and all but one of them are at his disposal for the game against Celtic. Left-back Carl Tremarco, who joined the club in July is suspended for the game following his dismissal against Livingston.
Kettlewell experimented with a 3-4-3 formation in their loss against Livingston but it is expected that he will revert to his trusted 4-2-3-1 formation in Saturday's crucial home game.
Josh Reid, the 18-year-old local youngster will probably fill in for Tremarco. Apart from that, we don't expect many changes in their starting XI.
Injured: None
Doubtful: None
Suspended: Carl Tremarco
Celtic
Celtic have been busy during the transfer window and have secured the signings of David Turnbull and Shane Duffy in the last two weeks. Both of the players were involved with their national teams in UEFA Nations League fixtures and thus it remains to be seen whether they'll receive their first call-ups or not.
Defender Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo, who breached COVID-19 quarantine protocols, leading to Celtic's two games being postponed, has been handed an immediate three-match ban while he is also ineligible for two games to be held in February.
Manager Neil Lennon has used a similar squad in three of the four league games and after a long break of two weeks, it is expected that he will field a familiar starting XI on Saturday.
Injured: None
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Ross County vs Celtic Predicted XI
Ross County Celtic Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Ross Laidlaw; Connor Randall, Coll Donaldson, Alex Iacovitti, Josh Reid; Ross Draper, Iain Vigurs; Michael Gardyne, Regan Charles-Cook, Ross Stewart; Billy McKay
Celtic Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Vasilis Barkas; Jeremie Frimpong, Christopher Jullien, Shane Duffy, Greg Taylor; Scott Brown, Callum McGregor; Ryan Christie, James Forrest, Olivier Ntcham; Odsonne Edouard
Ross County vs Celtic Prediction
Celtic were in great form before the international break and have scored 10 goals in four games. They boast an incredible record against Ross County and it will take nothing less than a miracle for the hosts to pull off a win here. We expect this meeting to end in another high scoring affair for Celtic.
Prediction: Ross County 1-3 Celtic