Preview: Celtic vs Stuttgart - prediction, team news, lineups

Celtic will welcome Stuttgart to Celtic Park on Thursday night for the first leg of their knockout playoff round clash in the Europa League.

The Bhoys finished 21st in the league phase standings with 11 points, while Die Roten placed 11th with 15 points.

Match preview

Since Martin O'Neill's return for his second stint at the helm this season, Celtic have enjoyed a stellar run of results.

The Bhoys are undefeated since the legendary manager's return, winning eight and drawing two of their 10 matches, including a crucial win against FC Utrecht in their final league phase match to ensure their place in the Europa League knockout rounds.

That victory lifted Celtic to 21st in the league phase table with 11 points from three wins, two draws and three defeats.

Celtic will be full of confidence heading into this game given their run under O'Neill, featuring a five-game winning streak and including a particularly superb 3-2 comeback triumph against Kilmarnock last time out.

The Bhoys trailed 2-0 after 28 minutes but were able to score three goals in the second half to claim the three points, including a 97th-minute winner from Julian Araujo, lifting them to within three points of the league leaders Hearts.

O'Neill may have slight concerns with the nature of their recent triumphs though, as they have had to score stoppage time goals in each of their last three matches, highlighting their lack of ability to finish games off early.

That could be a particular problem against a side with Stuttgart's quality, who are currently enjoying a strong overall campaign.

Die Roten are fourth in the Bundesliga standings with 42 points from 22 games - 13 wins, three draws and six defeats - finished 11th in the league phase with 15 points from eight games - five wins and three defeats - and are into the semi-finals of the DFB Pokal.

Sebastian Hoeness have, however, had their struggles at times on the road, including managing only one win and suffering three defeats in their four away fixtures in the league phase.

Stuttgart will be similarly boosted by their recent triumph, beating Koln 3-1 thanks to late goals from Ermedin Demirovic and Deniz Undav, ensuring they immediately bounced back from a miserable defeat to relegation candidates St Pauli.

Celtic Europa League form:

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Celtic form (all competitions):

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Stuttgart Europa League form:

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Stuttgart form (all competitions):

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Team News

Celtic are expected to be without the availability of Alistair Johnston, Arne Engels, Callum Osmand, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota due to injury issues.

January signings Julian Araujo, Junior Adamu and Tomas Cvancara have all been registered for the Europa League, and the trio could all start for Celtic on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Stuttgart will be unable to call upon Luca Jaquez, Dan-Axel Zagadou, Lazar Jovanovic, Nikolas Nartey and Justin Diehl due to fitness problems.

Undav and Demirovic are both in strong goalscoring form for Stuttgart, and the pair should continue their relationship in attack at Celtic Park.

Celtic possible starting lineup:

Schmeichel; Araujo, Trusty, Scales, Tierney; Nygren, McGregor, Hatate; Adamu, Cvancara, Maeda

Stuttgart possible starting lineup:

Nubel; Assignon, Jeltsch, Chabot, Mittelstadt; Karazor, Andres; Leweling, Undav, Fuhrich; Demirovic

We say: Celtic 1-1 Stuttgart

Celtic are enjoying an impressive run since O'Neill's return, and although Stuttgart are the favourites to claim the first-leg victory, we expect this game to be a hard-fought affair that ends all square.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.