The race for the Scottish Premiership title looks like it is going to go tmdown to the wire between Rangers and Celtic and luck could well play it’s part.
Luck with officiating, finishing, opposition teams missing chances, but perhaps most importantly, avoiding injuries at a time of the season when recovery time is limited.
Rangers are starting to get players back even if Danilo and Oscar Cortes face a race to play any more part, however, Celtic have been dealt a blow that could be music to one Ibrox hero’s ears.
Rangers get title boost after Celtic injury news
I’d imagine that, had he been given the choice, the Gers boss would have wanted to keep Fashion Sakala.
A player who is far from perfect, but who was always capable of contributing double digits for goals and assists if he was given enough minutes.
Yes, he missed easy chances in Old Firm derbies, he also caused Celtic plenty of problems too because of the chaos he caused, primarily due to his pace.
For Celtic, their chaos creator is Daizen Maeda.
As we saw only too well at Ibrox last week, his pace alone was enough to cause James Tavernier to panic and the rest is history.
News coming out of Parkhead suggests that the skipper might not be up against the Japan international the next time the two sides meet.
According to Brendan Rodgers, Maeda had a hamstring tendon issue that doesn’t look good:
“He is certainly not available for the weekend. It is one that the medical team will look at and see where that goes, then we will understand what inclusion he will have between now and the end of the season.”
Who can Celtic turn to replace Maeda?
Luis Palma is available for Celtic again but he hasn’t really caused our defence any problems since moving in the summer.
The Honduras international might be better than the likes of Scott Wright but Rangers and Philippe Clement will be looking for a significant upgrade in the summer, I don’t think we have missed out when you consider he cost them some £3.5m.
He’s also nowhere near as quick as Maeda.
The Scottish Premiership is a physical league but it is also one that doesn’t see most teams blessed with pace at the back, if defenders were fast, they wouldn’t be in Scotland.
Maeda, like Sakala, gets goals, sometimes purely because of his ability to get to the ball quicker than his opposite number.
With a dodgy hamstring, he won’t be causing chaos anytime soon.
