Cameron Carter-Vickers to give Celtic a boost as defender set to play against Motherwell

Celtic defender Cameron Carter-Vickers is fit and ready to play against Motherwell this weekend as the Hoops close in on another title.

The USA international was missing from last week’s win over Kilmarnock but Ange Postecoglou has now confirmed that he will return to the side on Saturday.

However other notable absences from the squad, including Reo Hatate and Jota, remain out and won’t take part this weekend.

The manager wouldn’t be drawn on whether or not they are expected to be ready for next weekend’s semi-final against Rangers but revealed they have returned to training and are “getting closer”.

Speaking to the media ahead of the Premiership clash at Celtic Park, which will be the last game before the league splits, the Australian said: “Cameron has trained all week and will play tomorrow.

“The only reason he didn’t play last week was the surface and I mentioned that before the game, but he has trained all week and is ready to go.

“Nothing else changes, all the other lads are closer and in training but won’t make this weekend.

“If he gets through the game tomorrow then he will play next week, so that’s how it is at the minute.

“I haven’t really thought much about the game next week, first we will see if get through tomorrow unscathed then we will work through the week and start to look at who’s available for the game then, but right now we are just focused on having a strong out that can win the game tomorrow.”

A win against Stuart Kettlewell’s side would be Celtic’s 18th in a row and see them overtake their best run under Brendan Rodgers and close in on their best-ever run of 23 under Jock Stein.

They are only nine league goals behind their post-war best of 111 recorded in their famous 1966/67 season with six games left and could also set a new points record if they win the rest of their games this season.

But the manager insists he is still taking it one game at a time and won’t let the players become distracted with the finishing line now in sight.

He said: “It’s not a focus for us, obviously the consistency in terms of performance from the lads, and results, these things will get mentioned along the way.

“But we’ve been good at focusing on whatever the next challenge is, because all of that becomes irrelevant if we don’t win tomorrow. You can look beyond tomorrow and say if we do this or that and the other but unless we win tomorrow all of those kind of things dissipate.

“Our main motivation is that we want to play well tomorrow, play our best football tomorrow, get another win, particularly at home in front of our supporters and score some goals and get closer to our overall target which is to win the title again.”