Many Celtic fans will feel that the international break has come at the wrong time for the Hoops, as they were finding some decent form ahead of their upcoming game against the Rangers. The Glasgow Derby is set to be played straight after the gap though and it will be interesting to see how that one plays out as it could have major implications on the Premiership title race.

Before that, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side will be hoping to get a big result against Dundee FC away at Dens Park though, after Celtic got a 4-0 win against Ross County to extend their lead to 6 points, albeit having played a game more than their Glasgow rivals.

Even then, points on the board will put pressure on the Rangers, although they will be heavy favourites against bottom-placed Dundee FC.

Ange Postecoglou appears to already have plans to get through the international break though, as the club could end up arranging a bounce game. As reported by 67 Hail Hail, the Celtic manager said in his post-match press conference:

“The next two weeks, obviously we lose a few to national teams. I don’t think that’s a bad thing – they get away from the routine club environment and refresh themselves. Others, we’ll give a little bit of a break to.

“Guys like Turnbull and a few others, we can put some really good work into them. Hopefully, we can arrange a bounce game during this break. We know when everyone comes back that’ll be it until the end of the year. It’ll be great to have a fit and healthy squad for that.”

Celtic could arrange bounce game during the international break

The most important thing for Celtic during this international break would be that nobody ends up getting injured. They already have Kyogo out of action since December, David Turnbull has just returned to the mix of things after being unavailable for months and Tom Rogic just picked up an injury in the game against Ross County.

There are seven more league games left for Celtic and it remains to be seen how far they can go in the Scottish Cup, with a Hampden semi-final against the Rangers waiting for them.

Thus, the Hoops must be hoping to have as many of their first-team stars available as possible, heading into some of their most important matches in a long time including three Glasgow Derbies.

This article was originally posted here