Celtic v Rangers team news: Postecoglou set for double boost as key Ibrox pair to return after United absence

Celtic and Rangers meet for the fourth time this season on Saturday when the Premiership league leaders host their city rivals.

Both go into the match in excellent form in the league. Ange Postecoglou’s men have dropped points just once since a 2-0 loss to St Mirren in September. That was the last time the Glasgow giants met at Ibrox in January. The 2-2 draw was also the only time Michael Beale has dropped points since replacing Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

Neither side were at their best at the weekend with both coming away with 2-0 wins. Rangers saw off bottom-of-the-league Dundee United at Ibrox on Saturday while Celtic overcame second-bottom Ross County in Dingwall on Sunday. The latter missed Japanese star Reo Hatate. His injury as well as Aaron Mooy’s absence saw Callum McGregor play higher up the park and Tomoki Iwata come into the team at the base of midfield, earning praise from his manager. Liel Abada was also missing.

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Mooy and Hatate are expected to be available again with Postecoglou having confirmed they had returned to training ahead of the Ross County game. He said: “We will assess it on Saturday before we make a decision. I would suggest if it’s not this weekend, that they will probably be right for next weekend, but we will just see how they go”. James Forrest will continue to be absent, while Tony Ralston and Liel Abada will also likely be unavailable with injuries that “it’s fair to say they will be a couple of weeks”.

Meanwhile, Rangers have had their injury issues clear up in recent weeks. John Souttar and Ridvan Yilmaz have both returned to the squad with the former making an appearance off the bench in the win over former club United. Ianis Hagi missed the game with illness but will come back into Beale's thoughts with the manager confirming Leon King and Nicolas Raskin are due to return to training ahead of the trip to Celtic Park. Steven Davis is out for the season, as is Kemar Roofe while Tom Lawrence is still recovering from a knee injury.

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