St Mirren vs Celtic: Midfield Challenges in Premiership Clash

St Mirren have chased the early pace in the Premiership. Now they have to do it with half a midfield.

Craig McLeish’s side sit just two points off the top after an unbeaten league start, but the manager walks into this one juggling absences in the area of the pitch he can least afford to be light.

Killian Phillips is out with a shin injury and will not feature, even if the club expects him back on the grass in light training next week. Liam Donnelly, usually a key anchor, remains sidelined with an abductor problem, while Malik Dijksteel’s hamstring issue keeps him in the treatment room.

That trio leaves St Mirren thin in the middle for a fixture that already felt high stakes.

Long-term absentee Jonah Ayunga is another major miss, his recovery schedule pointing to January before he can be considered again. McLeish has had to reshape everything around that reality.

Jacob Chapman is set to start in goal, shielded by a backline likely to include Alexandros Gogic and Henry Fieldson at its heart. Ahead of them, the balance of the side will rest heavily on those who are fit enough to go again.

St Mirren’s league form, though, gives them something to cling to. Ten points from four games have shoved them into the early title conversation, a response that says plenty about their resilience after a bruising League Cup defeat to Rangers.

They lurched through a wild 3-3 draw with Motherwell, then dug out a gritty 1-0 win away to Kilmarnock. It wasn’t pretty, but it was the kind of result teams chasing the top have to grind out.

Now comes the real measurement: the league leaders under the lights in Paisley.

Celtic patched up at the back but ruthless in the league

Celtic arrive with the table’s best record and the worst luck at left-back.

Martin O’Neill’s team have taken maximum points from their opening four Premiership games, scoring 11 and conceding just twice. They brushed aside Aberdeen 3-0 and then had to work harder to edge Falkirk 2-1, but the outcome was the same: another three points.

Their one major stumble came in Europe, an extra-time exit to LASK in Champions League qualifying. Domestically, though, the machine has kept rolling.

The concern now is what’s left standing in defence.

Kieran Tierney, Kasper Høgh and Callum Osmand are all out with thigh or ankle problems, stripping Celtic of options on the left and narrowing O’Neill’s choices across the back four.

New Chelsea loanee Landon Emenalo, signed to bolster those numbers, has taken a knock in training and will not debut here. Alistair Johnston is ruled out until October with a fresh injury blow, while Jota continues his recovery from a long-term knee issue.

The pressure on Liam Scales grows with every setback. He is expected to plug the gap at left-back again, asked to hold the line while Celtic’s attacking pieces try to keep the scoreboard ticking. Up front, Camilo Durán is set to lead the line.

There is at least some good news. Late-window arrivals Joël van den Berg and Jordan Lotomba are both available and could see action, offering O’Neill fresh legs and, crucially, fresh ideas.

Form and likely XIs

St Mirren’s momentum is clear: unbeaten in the league, ten points from twelve, and a sense of purpose that survived that heavy cup loss to Rangers. The chaos of Motherwell, the control at Kilmarnock – both sides of their character have already surfaced.

Celtic, though, remain the standard. Four wins from four, 11-2 on aggregate against Premiership opposition, and a habit of finding a way even when the performance dips.

Predicted lineups

• St Mirren: Chapman; Ramsay, Gogic, Fieldson, John; Nsio, Carr; Mochrie, Taylor, Kabia; Agrafiotis
• Celtic: Sinisalo; Donovan, Carter-Vickers, Trusty, Scales; McGregor; Hassan, Nygren, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Hyun-Jun; Duran

Under the lights

The game will be shown live on Sky Sports Football, but the real intrigue sits on the pitch: a stretched St Mirren midfield trying to disrupt a Celtic side that rarely drops its domestic standards.

If McLeish’s patched-up engine room can slow the leaders down, this early-season chase might last longer than many expected. If not, Celtic’s stride at the top could start to look ominously familiar.