Martin O’Neill has braced his Celtic players for a difficult game on a Tannadice pitch that has proved a major challenge in recent months.
Celtic prepared for difficult test at Tannadice
Former Aberdeen caretaker manager Peter Leven branded the surface the worst he had witnessed in his football career after a goalless New Firm derby last month.
After sustained wet weather and a number of postponements for waterlogged areas, the pitch will have dried out, but O’Neill knows the surface is likely to impact Sunday’s William Hill Premiership encounter with Dundee United.
“I think it’s a really difficult game for us,” he said. “We know that anyway. So as long as we’re mentally prepared for that, that’s absolutely fine.
“I’m sure that even with a couple of days’ sun, I don’t think the pitch is going to improve that much.
“And it will be obviously the same for both sides, so we just get on with it.
“It’s a big game. But there will be plenty of twists and turns between now and the end of the season.”
United are looking to bounce back from the disappointment of losing a two-goal derby lead in stoppage time at Dens Park.
Manager Jim Goodwin said: “I said to the players if we can replicate the performance that we put in last Sunday, then we’ll give ourselves a really good chance of picking up a positive result.
“We know what’s at stake for both teams and in particular what’s at stake for Celtic in terms of the challenge that they’re trying to mount against Hearts and Rangers to go and win the title.
“You could argue there’s a bit more pressure on the Celtic players than there is on mine but we’re the home team. We had a really good performance and result against Celtic the last time we played them at Tannadice and we have to take confidence from that one into this one.
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The head of referees confirmed consultations will take place.
“When we beat them at Tannadice it was under Wilfried Nancy playing a different system. Now obviously Martin O’Neill went back to the more familiar 4-3-3 and we faced that at Parkhead – they gave us a really difficult time of it.
“We’ve got to take the learnings from Parkhead, we’ve got to take a bit of confidence from the game at Tannadice and we’ve certainly got to build on the good moments that we showed in the game against Dundee. If we can bring all that together then we give ourselves a chance of picking up a positive result.”
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O’Neill “pleasantly surprised” by new Celtic starter
One man who will definitely not feature in Sunday’s crucial clash is Kasper Schmeichel, with the goalkeeper admitting his career may be over with surgery required on his shoulder injury.
O’Neill revealed he’s been impressed by the Dane’s replacement, 24 year-old Viljami Sinisalo.
“I have been pleasantly surprised. It’s nice to see him try to take this chance in difficult circumstances for a goalkeeper regardless of what happens, with the shadow of what’s going on in the background.
“He’s been wanting to do well and he’s been thrown into some big games. Apparently he did well at Ibrox last season too.
“But I’m only judging him on my time here. The first game I put him in was against Auchinleck in the cup at Kilmarnock. I thought there were a couple of things he could have grabbed. He did okay against Dundee in the cup, and then honestly he grew into it at Stuttgart and the Ibrox matches.
“I’ve been really pleased with him, really pleased. That [being No 1 next season] may be a decision for someone else to make, but I’m really delighted with him.”
The former Aston Villa youngster has a chance to make the number one shirt his own in the coming weeks, but the Hoops are expected to pursure reinforcements in that position this summer, while higher up the pitch there are doubts over the future of Benjamin Nygren.