Celtic short of strikers after Edouard injury blow

Glasgow: Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is sweating over record signing Odsonne Edouard’s fitness after the striker came off injured in Wednesday’s 3-0 victory over Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership.

With Leigh Griffiths taking an indefinite break from football to deal with personal issues, a lengthy layoff for the Frenchman would leave Celtic with 19-year-old Mikey Johnston as their only centre forward heading into a three-game stretch that includes trips to Aberdeen and Old Firm rivals Rangers.

Edouard, who was replaced after 38 minutes at Celtic Park, felt “a tightness around his abductor”, Rodgers said.

“We’ll just see how he is in the next 24 hours,” he told BBC Scotland.

“It’s a concern when you lose any player but he’s played a lot of games and we’ve not been able to rest him so it’s probably a little bit of fatigue.” The win against Motherwell, along with Rangers’ goalless draw with Hibernian, saw Celtic return to the top of the table, a point ahead of their Glasgow rivals with a game in hand.

Celtic host Dundee on Saturday, visit Aberdeen on December 26 and Rangers three days later before the winter shutdown.