Martin O'Neill has confirmed some bad news for Celtic heading into their game against St Mirren.
The 2026 summer transfer window is now in the books. The Celtic squad is set. Now, it is time to think about the games ahead.
Of course, that does not mean that Celtic are without their shortcomings. Far from it. Another failure to qualify for the Champions League meant that the club have once again had to plug holes for the short term with loan additions. Some voids even remain as they were.
That has left them lacking depth or quality, or both, in a few areas on the pitch. And injuries are not making things any easier for the Hoops.
Celtic will return to action this weekend with an away trip to take on St Mirren in the Premiership. But they will be missing quite a few players.
Martin O'Neill confirms Celtic absences due to injury
It has been confirmed by Martin O'Neill that both Kasper Hogh and Kieran Tierney are likely to miss the game against St Mirren through injury.
According to The Herald, he said: "I would have thought very, very unlikely for both of them."
They are not a million miles away from returning to action though. As O'Neill further went on to add: "Kieran is doing fine at this minute. Really fine. I thought that he might be a wee bit longer, and he’s doing fine.
"Kasper is also on the mend as well. So, I think that, if not next midweek, then hopefully they’ll be ready for the game after that."
To be honest, Hogh's absence might not hurt Celtic much at the moment. Camilo Duran looks tremendous as a number 9.
Even if Hogh returns to full fitness, he might have a tough task on his hands getting back into the first-team. Especially if Haissem Hassan continues to impressed as well.
Landon Emenalo is out injured as well
While Hogh's injury might not have a tremendous impact on Celtic's first-team at the wekend, the same cannot be said about Tierney.
That is because Celtic have his backup option on the sidelines as well. Landon Emenalo was signed from Chelsea on loan for the season.
At a time like this, when Tierney is out injured, Celtic were expected to turn towards Emenalo. But the Chelsea youngster has not recovered from an injury he picked up in training even before joining the Hoops.
As a result, Celtic are expected to continue with Liam Scales as their starting left-back for the time being. The situation is far from ideal.
Up next is this game against St Mirren. It is a game between first and second in the league right now. So, Celtic should take the opposition lightly, especially away from home.
One can only hope that they are able to dig deep and find ways to get all three points from these games until the team returns to full fitness.
