**Celtic are rolling, but St. Johnstone won't make this a walk in the park.** The Hoops come in red-hot while the Perth side have picked up decent form themselves — it's shaping up to be a proper cup-tie energy midweek scrap. 🔥

Celtic's 4-win streak speaks volumes, especially that 3-0 demolition of Aberdeen at home. St. Johnstone grabbed a morale-boosting win over Hibernian but have leaked goals on the road. The head-to-head tells you everything: **Celtic absolutely own this fixture**, winning 41 of the last 54 meetings.

Key storylines:

- **Celtic's depth under fire** — missing Jota, Johnston, and both Tierney and Høgh means Ange's got to get creative in midfield and attack
- **St. Johnstone's home fortress** — they've won their last two at McDiarmid Park; if they can pressure early, they might nick something
- **McGregor & Baur orchestrating** — Celtic's midfield pivot will be crucial to breaking down a compact Perth defense

Expected lineups:

- **St. Johnstone**: T. Steward, C. Diabate, Z. Mitchell, L. Smith, E. Alić, J. Holt, R. McAlear, S. Stanton, T. Steven, J. Fowler, R. Paton
- **Celtic**: V. Sinisalo, L. Scales, C. Carter-Vickers, A. Trusty, C. Donovan, M. Baur, C. McGregor, S. Tounekti, B. Nygren, Y. Hyun-Jun, C. Durán

Prediction:

**Celtic 2–0 St. Johnstone.** Celtic's form and pedigree in this tie are just too much, even with the absentees.