St Johnstone have received a big boost ahead of tomorrow’s lunchtime clash with Celtic at McDiarmid Park with the news that long-serving defender Steven Anderson has returned to the squad after recovering from a horrific ankle injury.
The 29-year-old centre-half required surgery after being cut to the bone while playing against Dundee two weeks ago.
Now though, he has been given the all-clear to play against the Hoops and Saints boss Tommy Wright welcomed his timely comeback with on-loan Celtic defender Darnell Fisher unable to play in the fixture.
The manager said: “Ando saw the consultant on Tuesday, got the stitches out and has been training. He comes back into the squad.
“That’s a bonus for us. He is an experienced defender. Joe (Shaughnessy) was excellent in there at Ross County but I have a position I have to fill with Darnell being unable to play.”
Celtic’s European campaign came to an end on Thursday night in Turkey when they drew with Fenerbahce.
However, Wright does not believe the travelling will have taken its toll on Ronny Deila’s side especially as he rested several regulars for the game.
The manager added: “Their European game isn’t a factor in my thinking. I know they had a problem coming back from Europe a few seasons ago but Ronny can rotate his squad.
“Leigh Griffiths didn’t travel, James Forrest and Kris Commons came on from the bench and players like Emilio Izaguirre can come in to freshen it up. They have enough experience in that squad to deal with it. If the result was to go against them, I’m sure that wouldn’t be used as an excuse.
“Their campaign was over before the Fenerbahce game but they put in a decent performance. I’m sure they will be disappointed to be out of Europe but they still have a Treble at home to try and win.
“They will be wanting to get the league title tied-up as quickly as they can and no doubt they will fancy coming here and getting three points.”
Saints are, of course, in a rich vein of form and the manager insists that on their home patch, they will definitely take the game to Celtic.
He said: “Maybe when you go to Celtic Park you can be a bit more defensive. But at home, the onus is still on us to try and have a go. Playing against a team like Celtic you might not get as much of the ball as against other teams because they have so many good players.
“But we have to try to start well and take the game to them.
“I don’t think sitting back and camping in along our 18-yard line is the way to try to win the game.
“It’s not been our approach playing the better teams at home.
“The recent performances have been excellent so the players are going into the game with confidence. And rightly so because we have been clinical and showing a lot of quality in the last third.”