Michael Fraser is braced for a Celtic backlash

Celtic manager Neil Lennon allowed Kris Commons, Joe Ledley, Efe Ambrose and Kelvin Wilson to miss last week’s game against Motherwell at Fir Park and then watched his much-changed side go down 3-1 to the second-placed Steelmen.

Georgios Samaras, Charlie Mulgrew, Gary Hooper, and Fraser Forster will all definitely miss this week’s game, with Emilio Izaguirre also set to be left out as the champions take a breather before focusing on the William Hill Scottish Cup final against Hibernian later in the month.

Fraser expects Lennon to have taken steps to ensure improvement from last week, regardless of which players are given a start. The 29-year-old said: “We’re not looking at the Motherwell game and thinking that will make it easier for us because it could well make it harder for us.

“I dare say Lennon will have made a few points to his players after the Motherwell defeat and he doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who likes to lose, even though they’ve won the SPL.

“I think he demands a lot from his players. There’s no way players at Celtic can afford to slacken off.

“They’ve got a great squad and if Neil Lennon feels someone isn’t pulling his weight then he can replace him with someone just as good. Everyone wants to play in a cup final and that’s what they want to aim for and these games before the end of the season will have a big bearing on who gets the shout for the final.”