Celtic are hoping to secure another Scottish FA Cup title this season, and will take on Kilmarnock at the Celtic Park in the fourth round on Saturday.
The hosts are coming into this game after having played 3-1-1 in the last five matches while the visitors have played 2-2-1 in the last five.
It has been a simply sensational 2024-25 campaign for Celtic so far, as they currently lead Scottish Premiership by 13 points, and on course to reach the knock out stage of Champions League as well as they clinched the Scottish League Cup final.
Brendan Rodgers men have won thirty-three games out of thirty-three across all competitions in this current season after suffering a 7-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund and being defeated by Rangers at 3-0 early this month.
However, the Bhoys have demonstrated great character to recover immediately from both losses, recording an extensive sequence of wins after the defeat to Dortmund and they manner in which they responded to the Old Firm derby loss this season where they have won three of four matches.
As the Welshman’s men enter their fourth competition game in the campaign, Rodgers will be eager for his team to continue their unbeaten run and move forward to the fifth round as they aim to successfully retain the Scottish Cup.
The Bhoys will surely fancy their chances of having a win on the forthcoming match against Kilmarnock since the Celtic Park team has not been defeated by Killie in for the last twenty years or so starting from October of the year 2012.
Killie are also struggling heading into this match having registered only three wins out of their last 13 matches, six losses and four draws in the process.
With six victories, seven draws, and ten losses, Derek McInnes' team is now in ninth position in the Scottish Premiership standings with 25 points from 23 games—a far cry from their fourth-place finish from the previous season.
This season, Kilmarnock has had a very difficult time scoring goals; only Ross County has scored less than their total of 25 goals in 23 league games, including being goalless in their previous two games.
McInnes's team will be the underdog against Celtic going into this match, but the manager is hopeful a surprise win would help them overcome their poor start to the season.
Due to persistent injury concerns, Celtic will be missing James Forrest (foot) and Daizen Maeda (strain) for this game; however, both are expected to make a comeback later this month.
Arne Engels and Nicolas-Gerrit Kuhn are anticipated to start for Rodgers, who may make a number of changes to his team for this match after their disappointing 3-3 draw with Dundee in their previous game.
Due to injury concerns, Stuart Findlay (ankle) and Kyle Vassell (shin) will both be out until the end of the month for the visitors.
Bruce Anderson, Kilmarnock's league-leading scorer, started on the bench during their most recent 0-0 draw with Motherwell, but given McInnes's team's goalless record, the forward is probably going to start here.
