These FOUR key Celtic battles will decide the Glasgow Derby

The final Glasgow Derby of the season sees Brendan Rodgers' Celtic pit their wits against Philippe Clement's Rangers at Parkhead. The defending champions are three points clear at the summit and five goals better off than their rivals across the city. A win for Celtic will almost certainly kill off the Light Blues' chances of the league flag being unfurled at Ibrox.

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Rodgers is searching for his 13th win in the fixture whilst the Belgian has still to sample success in the encounter after suffering two losses and a draw in his three derby outings so far. The form book favours the hosts who have won five and drawn one of their last five league matches. The visitors are in a state of flux having won three, drawn two and lost one of their previous six games handing the title initiative back to Celtic in the process.

So, where will Saturday's latest derby instalment in Glasgow's east end be won and lost? The Celtic Way's Tony Haggerty picked out four key battles which could prove to be decisive in the outcome.

Joe Hart v Jack Butland  

The football romantics and neutrals may well be hoping that former Manchester City and England shot-stopper Joe Hart can bow out of Celtic with a Scottish Premiership and Scottish Cup double.

It has been such a stellar career for the goalkeeper and how he would crave a 14th clean sheet in the league this season at the weekend. Hart has been a central figure in between the sticks for his club lately and has made a telling contribution over the past few weeks. It's almost as if he is on some sort of personal crusade and mission to bring the curtain down on his career and hang up his gloves as a winner. In three league outings against Rangers thus far Hart has conceded four goals - three of them coming in the pulsating 3-3 draw between the sides at Ibrox last month.

As for Jack Butland, he has had a tremendous first season for Rangers which rightfully saw him nominated for the PFA Scotland Player of the Year award. His lightning reflexes and ability as a shot-stopper have bailed his side out on many occasions this season not least of which in Paisley recently when he made a contender for save of the season from a James Bolton strike. He is probably still smarting from being 'dinked' from the penalty spot by  Celtic midfielder Matt O'Riley during the Ibrox clash in front of England international manager Gareth Southgate.

Butland to his credit has racked up 18 Premiership clean sheets thus far. However, you get the feeling that with the likes of Celtic's Kyogo Furuhashi hitting his striking stride again the Rangers custodian could well be the busier of the two goalkeepers come this weekend. The Englishman has already picked two Kyogo belters out of his rigging this season. What price on Kyogo making a hat-trick of goals planted past Butland?

Cameron Carter-Vickers vs Cyriel Dessers

This is an intriguing battle as Rangers' shot-shy attacker Cyriel Dessers lines up against Celtic's colossus of a defender Cameron Carter-Vickers.

The respective American and Nigerian internationalists will give no inch in terms of the physical battle. Dessers has bagged 20 goals and contributed eight assists for Rangers in all competitions but there are lots of the club's supporters who feel he is wasteful in front of goal and that those numbers could be significantly improved upon.

If any evidence of that was needed then you only need to rewind to the Glasgow Derby in December when Celtic triumphed 2-1. Dessers was heavily criticised and maligned when he pounced on a mistake by the hosts' defence but somehow took an age to set himself up for a shot and wasted a golden opportunity in the first half.

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Dessers might also be left to rue his comments that Rangers are the best team in Scotland which he uttered only last month. Meanwhile, Carter-Vickers on the other hand has had an injury-plagued season which is borne out by the fact that he has only scored one goal in 23 league outings totalling 1,795 minutes of football.

He is a tower of strength at the back and has been described by former Celtic striker Chris Sutton as "a rock for Celtic". He is rock solid and as dependable as they come. Dessers won't get much joy or change out of the Celtic stopper. That's just the way his manager and teammates like it.

There is a feeling moving forward that Celtic will need to bring in a central defender in Carter-Vickers' ilk to play alongside him. A reliable and reassuring presence at the back of the pack, Carter-Vickers exuded confidence, coolness and calm. He is rarely flustered and is unflappable. It is a small wonder that he is a trusted lieutenant of Rodgers because, in more ways than one, he is very much the living embodiment and representative of the manager's voice in the park.

Callum McGregor vs John Lundstram

Celtic's inspirational skipper is tailor-made for Rangers games. He has dominated this fixture in the recent past due to understanding the assignment. Last weekend the captain was cheered to the rafters when he chased down a Hearts player late in the game and won the ball with a superb sliding tackle. It was greeted like a goal by the Celtic support. Why? It was because everybody knew in that instant that McGregor was back. The Achilles problem that negated his influence in recent weeks had dissipated. 

He completed 26 pressures and four counterpressures in an impressive off-the-ball showing from the heartbeat of the engine room. Not only that McGregor's best was confirmed in his defensive statistics, as the Scotland stalwart had a combined eight tackles and interceptions.

McGregor's direct opponent could well be Rangers midfielder John Lundstram and he will try and stop the Celtic man from directing traffic. Lundstram does not sport a particularly good record in these matches when pitted up against McGregor. He has been on the winning side just once in the Scottish Premiership during a 3-0 win at Ibrox almost 12 months to the day which was deemed a dead rubber after Celtic had already been crowned title winners. The Celtic captain certainly appears to have some sort of hex over the Rangers midfield as well as Lundstram. It's a dreadful record of failure for the Rangers midfielder to be honest.

READ MORE: Why Celtic's captain McGregor was back to his best vs Hearts

One wonders if Clement might well be tempted to designate a Mohamed Diomande or a Dujon Sterling to man-mark McGregor to see if brings about a change of attitude and luck in the derby fixture.  However, the Scotland midfielder is showing increasing signs that he is recapturing his form and with 60,000 attempting to cheer McGregor and his team over the Premiership finish line, Lundstram will need to produce a career-best display if he is to halt the Celtic midfield juggernaut.  

The days of the Rangers supporters proclaiming Lundstram as 'the best on earth' are long gone. McGregor has ruled the domestic roost since he pitched up in Glasgow and the Celtic captain is in no mood to relinquish his position. McGregor has his 'trophy head' on and looks to have come alive at a critical juncture of the season.

Kyogo Furuhashi vs John Souttar

How John Souttar must be sick of the sight of Celtic's goalscoring talisman. The Japanese attacker bagged his 10th goal against Hearts in the 3-0 win over the capital club on Sunday. However many of the goals he scored before will have come when Souttar was in a maroon shirt himself.

Kyogo may not have enjoyed a great season in terms of goal contributions in comparison to his first two campaigns but he has still weighed in with 13 goals in 35 league games. He has also proven to be the matchwinner in two Glasgow derbies this season already notching decisive goals for Celtic in the 1-0 win at Ibrox in September and the clincher in the 2-1 victory at Parkhead in December.

How do you stop Kyogo when he is in the mood? That is the $64,000 question and Souttar and company have struggled thus far to cope with that task. Kyogo looks to be back in the mood which could spell bad news for the Rangers defence and Souttar in particular. The 29-year-old's last four league goals have all come at Celtic Park. It is where the attacker feels at home and he comes alive.

No doubt Souttar will have watched PFA Scotland Player of the Year nominee Matt O'Riley supplying the striker with the assist of the season last weekend in the 3-0 win over Hearts. It has been argued that Kyogo's game has been tweaked this season and after being asked to play a more deeper role by Rodgers, it led to him being less effective. Kyogo has still been making those trademark runs. It is just that with the timely return to form of O'Riley, Reo Hatate and McGregor in the Celtic engine room, Kyogo will be getting supplied from all angles. The Rangers defenders will have their work cut out trying to nullify and negate the number eight by cutting off that supply.

Incidentally, Kyogo has seven Glasgow Derby goals to date. Will the number eight make it eight derby goals this weekend? It's fair to say that Kyogo is still the most lethal marksman in Scotland. That alone is enough to give somebody like Souttar sleepless nights.