Brendan alleviates Alistair Johnston injury concerns | OneFootball

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that Alistair Johnston will be available for Thursday’s Glasgow Derby at Ibrox. The Scottish Champions travel to Govan to face Philippe Clement’s side after Sunday’s home game against St Johnstone.

Tony Ralston has started the last two games after replacing AJ in the League Cup Final earlier this month with the Canadian suffering a hip injury as a result of a clumsy tackle against Zagreb. There had been some concerns that Johnston would be unfit for the January 2nd clash but these have been alleviated by the manager.

Rodgers told the media conference after the Boxing Day win over Motherwell that Johnston could be involved when the bottom Premiership side come to Paradise.

“He should be okay for the weekend. We were hoping it was going to be today.

“But he’s been out running, he’s been out working, doing some really good work. So rather than force it, Tony’s done great for us and comes into the game and does really well.

“We don’t need to force it.”

Johnston made his debut at Ibrox in 2023 in a 2-2 and has gone on to be a brilliant signing. The 26-year-old has been a key figure in the success of recent seasons, offering defensive solidity and attacking prowess. The link up with Nicolas Kühn has been particularly impressive and a pair that Brendan will be keen to utilise against Rangers, especially given the defensive issues that they’ve had recently.