Brendan Rodgers has alleviated injury concerns over two key players following win over Chelsea

admin | July 28, 2024 | Other Clubs | No Comments

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has alleviated injury concerns over two key players following the 4-1 friendly win over Chelsea in Indiana.

The Scottish champions produced an impressive performance against a strong Blues side at the Notre Dame Stadium with goals from Matt O’Riley, Kyogo Furuhashi, Luis Palma and Mikey Johnston making it three wins out of three on the club’s US tour following previous victories over DC United and Manchester City.

With their pre-season schedule now complete, Celtic appear to be in fine fettle ahead of their Premiership curtain-raiser at home to Kilmarnock next Sunday, particularly after it was confirmed that both Nicolas Kuhn and Daizen Maeda are expected to be available.

Kuhn, who scored a double in the 4-3 win over City on Wednesday, sat out the Chelsea match after picking up a back strain in training while Maeda was forced off in the first-half with a knee knock, but neither are giving the Celtic boss any major cause for concern.

“Nicolas was stretching in training and felt a sore back. He probably needs a few days,” Rodgers said. “Daizen was just a clash of knees and there’s no need to risk anything at this stage of the season. Hopefully he’ll be okay when we get back.”

The Celtic side that has completed pre-season has carried a familiar look with goalkeepers Kasper Scheichel and Viljami Sinisalo the only new arrivals of the summer thus far. However, Rodgers has not ruled out the prospect of new outfield additions arriving before the league opener in seven days time.

“I hope so,” the Northern Irishman said over the prospect of signing new faces before the Killie game. “You want to have them in as soon as you possibly can. The current group are working very hard in their own right and we’ll improve the squad over the course of the window.”

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