Who will partner Cameron Carter-Vickers on Sunday?

It as revealed that Cameron Carter-Vickers will be returning to the Celtic squad for Sunday’s trip to Fir Park to face Motherwell. Celtic’s defence hasn’t looked as solid as it usually does without Carter-Vickers in the team, so often the safe option for the rest of the defenders to lean on when he is at the heart of the Celtic defence.

Injuries have plagued the American ever since he received knee surgery in April of last year, with Liam Scales stepping in in his absence and finding a new lease of life at the club when he was once considered a player that many thought we would never see play for Celtic again.

With Cameron Carter-Vickers now fit, he will most definitely return to the team on Sunday, but who makes way for the American centre-back.

Stephen Welsh
Much like the aforementioned Carter-Vickers, Welsh has had plenty of injury troubles over the course of this season. As a player with the goal of breaking into the team and nailing down a first-team spot, constant injuries and knocks whenever he does play have been incredibly frustrating.

A big complaint about Welsh’s performances in recent weeks has been the lack of forward passing, with Celtic seeing a lot of the ball in games but failing to really drive at the opposition on a consistent basis.

Question marks surrounding his height when it comes to defending set-piece situations have also come to the fore, and it looks incredibly likely that Welsh will be the one to make way.

Liam Scales
With Cameron Carter-Vickers injury problems being a constant over the course of this season so far, Liam Scales has been the man that has shone in his absence.

Performing admirably in his first few appearances from the team, performances levels dropped off slightly, but he has still been maintaining a similar role to the one that Carter-Vickers held in the Celtic defence as the leader at the back.

Many have claimed that his resurgence in the team was just a purple patch, but he has still be turning in solid performances and talks of a new contract extension suggest that Scales is going to be a player that here for the long run under Brendan Rodgers.

He has been a constant in this Celtic team over the course of this season, and Brendan Rodgers will most likely keep Liam Scales in the team alongside the returning Carter-Vickers.

A curveball
Brendan Rodgers has consistently rotated his team this season, with injuries leading to constant rotation in midfield, the wide areas, and in particular, the centre-backs.

One player who hasn’t seen many opportunities this season is Maik Nawrocki, which has surprised many supporters given that the club splashed out just shy of £5million to acquire his services in the summer from Legia Warsaw.

As previously mentioned, despite still performing solid enough in recent weeks, Scales’ performance levels has gone down slightly, and allowing Nawrocki a chance to impress could be a move for Brendan Rodgers.

Supporters may like the sight of this after the Pole’s nervy display at Pittodrie, but he deserves more than just a run of two games in the starting eleven to prove his worth.

James McKenzie // @JamesWHMcKenzie