Celtic face Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership, as they return to domestic action at Celtic Park on Sunday afternoon.

Coming off of the back of a 6-0 drubbing at the hands of Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, Brendan Rodgers will be hoping for an instant response against Barry Robson’s Dons team, who earned a 2-2 draw with Greek side PAOK in their homeland in the Europa Conference League.

Daizen Maeda was the only new injury issue announced by the manager in his press conference yesterday, as the winger faces up to six weeks on the sidelines due to knee ligament damage sustained in midweek.

With all of that being said, who will Rodgers select to face Robson’s Aberdeen at Celtic Park? Our writers have their say…

Ryan McGinlay

It is going to be interesting to see how both teams shape up for this game, especially given their varying levels of success on their European excursions.

Aberdeen failed to register a single shot against Celtic in their last visit to Glasgow on Trophy Day to the East End, yet they will be buoyed by the fact that they secured a great win in Greece against PAOK. Here’s hoping that Celtic can lift themselves after a bruising night in Madrid and that the gap at the top remains eight by the end of the day.

In light of that aforementioned game, Rodgers will make a few changes to his side, one unfortunately being an enforced one on the wing. We’ll get to that later, as one place that will see no change is in goals, as Joe Hart will retain his spot despite conceding six in midweek. Madrid’s sixth goal has done the rounds online due to the keeper’s positioning in the lead-up to the goal, one which Hart will not want to see again, admittedly.

Onto the outfield defenders, with Alistair Johnston and Greg Taylor assuming their normal positions at right and left-back respectively, despite both not being in the best form of their careers at the moment. Despite the temptation to finally give Maik Nawrocki his big return, it will be Cameron Carter-Vickers and Liam Scales that will continue to occupy the heart of defence for Celtic. The young Pole can feel incredibly hard done by here, though you suspect he will be given more of a look-in after the latest international break. Time is certainly on his side, the same can be said for Gustaf Lagerbielke.

Into the midfield, and Captain Callum McGregor will continue to start, though Rodgers will be hoping his minutes are monitored during the international break. Fingers crossed that McGregor can get back to his best form, as Celtic are all the better for it when he is on his A-game. Here comes the curveball, as Odin Thiago Holm will get his second start for the club alongside Matt O’Riley further up the field in the engine room. Now is the time for Rodgers to unleash Holm, as he impressed in his last two league appearances against St Mirren and Ross County, where he assisted Oh Hyeon-gyu in the former. O’Riley has been a little off form recently, so a game against Aberdeen may be the perfect recipe to kick his season back into top gear following the slightest of dips.

Kyogo Furuhashi will lead the line, though Oh starting would not be the biggest surprise given his impressive performance up in Dingwall. As hinted before, Maeda has to drop out of the squad due to injury, giving Yang Hyun-jun the chance to start consecutive league games for the first time. After impressing up north, Yang will be hoping to finally break his duck for Celtic in terms of scoring, something his fellow starter on Sunday Luis Palma has had little trouble in doing.

Games at home against Aberdeen are always fun, therefore Celtic should win by a couple, with Holm scoring his first goal for the club in the process.

Ryan’s team: Hart; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor; McGregor, Holm; Yang, O’Riley, Palma; Kyogo

Tony Haggerty

It's back to the domestic grind after the rather sobering Champions League experience in Madrid against Atletico.

Celtic were hit for six of the worst against the Spaniards and no doubt the after-effects of that European defeat will still sting. Aberdeen lie in wait at Parkhead this Sunday and Celtic will have to shake the events in the Metropolitano out of their systems this weekend if they are to remain eight points clear at the Scottish Premiership summit. The wounds have been licked and it is time to move on and go again.

Barry Robson's side arrives fresh in Glasgow from a morale-boosting 2-2 Europa League draw against PAOK in Greece so they will be buoyed by that and looking to claim a rare Premiership double in Glasgow after routing Rangers at Ibrox on their last trip to the city.

In terms of personnel, Rodgers will have to freshen up owing to Maeda sustaining a medial knee ligament injury and that is a huge blow to Celtic moving forward in the next six weeks or so. However Celtic and Maeda will have to grin and bear it and suck it up as they say.

Hart will remain in goal and Johnston and Taylor will occupy their familiar right and left-back roles. In the centre of the defence, the temptation might be to welcome back Polish defender Nawrocki but that won't happen although he will see some game time in this one. Carter-Vickers and Scales will remain in situ. 

In midfield, it will be the turn of Holm to finally take centre stage. The Norwegian has impressed greatly in some cameos of late and none more so than when he set up Oh for his winning goal against St Mirren with a sumptuous pass. Holm will be released against the Reds alongside captain McGregor and O'Riley who did not exactly cover themselves in glory against the La Liga outfit on Tuesday.

Up front then it is a real chance for Yang to enjoy an extended run in the side at the expense of Maeda and he will start on the right wing and Palma will continue on the left with Kyogo once again the main man in attack.

It's time for Celtic to forget all about their Champions League woes and to get back to their professional and clinical domestic best and preserve their unbeaten league record so far which stands at an impressive 10 wins and two draws in 12 matches. Celtic must guard against it being an unlucky 13 at all costs.

Tony's team: Hart; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor; McGregor, Holm, O'Riley; Yang, Palma, Kyogo