Aberdeen vs Celtic: Starting line-ups named for Premiership clash

The teams for Saturday’s early Premiership clash between Aberdeen and Celtic have been named.

Don caretaker manager Peter Leven has picked his first starting line-up since taking over from Barry Robson who was sacked during the week.

The league leaders arrive at Pittodrie for the 12:30 with Brendan Rodgers making a decision over deadline day recruit Adam Idah who starts on the bench beside fellow January arrival Nicolas Kuhn.

Killian Phillips makes his first start for Aberdeen since joining on loan from Crystal Palace last week.

The midfielder came off the bench to make his debut in the 1-1 draw with Dundee in midweek just two days after completing his move from the English Premier League side.

Celtic could go eight points clear at the top of the table for at least a couple of hours if they can secure their tenth win in a row over the hosts.

Second place Rangers play bottom side Livingston at Ibrox at 3pm.

Meanwhile Aberdeen could find themselves in the top six if they can get all three points.

Leven has started with Roos between the sticks behind a backline of Devlin, Mackenzie, Jensen and Gartenmann and a midfield of Phillips, Shinnie, Barron, McGrath, Polvara looking to provide ammunition for top-scorer Bojan Miovski.

Celtic go with Hart in goals behind a back four of Johnston, Nawrocki, Scales and Bernabei.

Captain Callum McGregor anchors a three-man midfield beside O’Riley and Bernardo with Abada and Palma at either of side of Kyogo who is leading the line.

Rodgers revealed on Friday that they will be without Cameron Carter-Vickers for around three weeks after the defender suffered an injury in training and Reo Hatate for upto six weeks after he was injured while representing Japan at the Asian Cup.

Daizen Maeda, Hyeongyu Oh and Yang all remain at the tournament in Qatar.

South Korea have reached the semi-finals after a win over Australia on Friday and Japan play Iran in their quarter-final clash on Saturday, with Maeda handed a start.

The Celtic trio could potentially meet each other in the final that will be played next week.