Preview: Celtic vs. St Mirren - prediction, team news, lineups

Celtic's quest to defend their Scottish Premiership title continues on Saturday when they host fifth-placed St Mirren in the final match until the division splits.

While both teams are guaranteed a place in the top half, there is still plenty to play for in the overall season.

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Match preview

After a thrilling six-goal draw against Rangers during their most recent outing, Celtic will be hoping to come back down to earth with a routine performance when they host St Mirren this weekend.

The Hoops are in the midst of a battle against the Gers in a bid to win the league, and while they currently sit in first place, there is no room for error due to how close things are.

Celtic are just a single point above their rivals at the moment, but considering Rangers do have a game in hand, there is pressure on Brendan Rodgers to guide his team to another positive result.

While the defending champions might have one eye on the upcoming Scottish Cup semi-final next week, the team can ill-afford to overlook any match right now in the Scottish Premiership.

The Hoops should have no shortage of confidence ahead of this match, considering they have already defeated St Mirren three times this season, while the visitors have only ever beaten Celtic five times throughout their history.

That is something the visitors will aim to change this weekend as they look to keep putting pressure on the teams above them in a bid to try and secure a top-four finish this season.

Steve Robinson's men have already guaranteed a place in the top half of the table when the division splits, regardless of the result this weekend, but the focus will be on climbing as high as possible.

The Buddies trail Kilmarnock by five points at the moment and a positive result against Celtic would make a big impact on pushing them ahead of the final run-in.

St Mirren have failed to pick up a victory in their previous two outings, though, as they were unable to respond to drawing against Motherwell when they played Hearts last weekend.

The Buddies were beaten 2-1 by the Jambos as an own goal from Mikael Mandron proved to be the difference maker, which is a result they now have the chance to quickly put behind them.

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Team News

Callum McGregor made a return to the Celtic squad last weekend, and after getting some minutes under his belt as a substitute, he could now be ready to feature from the first whistle.

Luis Palma remain out of action for the Hoops, but Reo Hatate and Cameron Carter-Vickers have been back lately after their spells on the sidelines.

As for St Mirren, Ryan Strain fell back out of the team for the match against Hearts, leading to question marks over whether or not he will be used this time around.

Mark O'Hara and James Bolton also dropped out during St Mirren's last outing, but considering the result was not positive, they could also be in contention to return.

Celtic possible starting lineup: Hart; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor; O'Riley, McGregor, Hatate; Kuhn, Kyogo, Maeda

St Mirren possible starting lineup: Hemming; Fraser, Gogic, Dunne; Brown, O'Hara, Boyd-Munce, Tanser; Strain, Mandron, Kiltie

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We say: Celtic 2-1 St Mirren

St Mirren will be pushing to try and secure a top-four finish this season and they will be sure to give Celtic a difficult game.

However, the hosts should have far too much quality, and considering they have already beaten the Buddies three times this season, it is expected that they will win again.

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

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