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Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic side head into Saturday’s Premiership fixture off the back of securing their first away win of the season last time out, a result which the 56-year-old will undoubtedly be hoping that his Hoops side can repeat in their visit to Fir Park.

However, while Motherwell fell to a 2-0 defeat at Hearts in their last league outing, Graham Alexander’s side have been in rather impressive form so far this season, picking up 14 points from their opening eight games of the 2021/22 campaign, so a Celtic win is by no means guaranteed today.

With what promises to be a challenging fixture for the Bhoys, will Postecoglou make any changes to the team which started the 2-1 win at Aberdeen last time out?

Here’s how we think Celtic could line up against Motherwell, along with the latest team and injury news…

With Postecoglou revealing in his pre-match press conference that Celtic’s injury crisis is finally beginning to ease – Mikey Johnston is once again available for selection, while the trio of James Forrest, Christopher Jullien and Josip Juranovic are all progressing well in their respective recoveries – we predict that the Hoops manager will make two changes to his starting XI from the Aberdeen game.

The back five of Joe Hart, Adam Montgomery, Carl Starfelt, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Anthony Ralston should remain unchanged from that game, as despite the encouraging signs, Jullien and Juranovic are still a little bit off being match-fit.

In the middle of the park, Callum McGregor and David Turnbull make up the central midfield duo, while the £14k-per-week Nir Bitton is replaced with the attack-minded Tom Rogic, who starts in a more advanced midfield role. As per Sofascore, the Israeli was Celtic’s lowest-ranked performer in the win at Pittodrie, so he could face the axe today.

As mentioned above, 22-year-old Johnston is available for selection against Motherwell, with the winger coming straight back into the side for Jota, who is perhaps unfortunate to drop to the bench after his winner at Pittodrie.

Meanwhile, Liel Abada keeps his spot on the right wing, as does Kyogo Furuhashi up top, with Giorgos Giakoumakis still working his way up to full match fitness.

In other news: Celtic dealt major injury blow ahead of Motherwell clash, Ange will be gutted

West Ham could make a late window swoop for Fenerbahce defender Attila Szalai amid Pete O’Rourke’s transfer claim.

What’s the story?

David Moyes will be desperate to make some additions to his squad ahead of the deadline next week, and transfer insider O’Rourke has claimed that Szalai figures prominently on the Hammers’ short-list.

He told GIVEMESPORT: “A talented player and it seems like he’s on the list of quite a few Premier League clubs. Chelsea, Newcastle, and West Ham, I’m sure, will definitely be in there. He’s well on their list.”

Premier League ready

Dubbed as “exemplary” and with the “loudest voice in training” by former Fenerbahce boss Emre Belozoglu, Szalai possesses all the raw physical attributes to become a real force in the Premier League.

Standing at an imposing 6 foot 4, Szalai boasts an intimidating presence and given how quickly he has hit the ground running at Fenerbahce, West Ham should feel more confident of his ability to adapt to another high-profile move so early in his career.

The centre-back has been a consistent performer for Fenerbahce this season, averaging 1.3 tackles and 1.4 interceptions per game in the Turkish Super Lig, while his numbers fare just as well when considering his displays in the Europa League – he averages 1.8 tackles and 1.3 interceptions in the competition.

To put that into context, both his tackling and interception numbers are significantly better than any West Ham centre-back this season in the Premier League.

With the Hammers still seemingly playing a waiting game when it comes to January signings, sealing a deal for the 24-year-old would be a very welcome addition before the end of the window and have fans buzzing.

Meanwhile, West Ham have made their “first offer” for this Ligue 1 striker…

Former professional footballer Michael Ball believes Harry Kane is much needed for Manchester City. 

The Cityzens are interested in taking Harry Kane to the Etihad Stadium, with journalist Fabrizio Romano reporting last week that City will return with a €150m (£128m) bid and that the club are open to including players or add-ons, with Spurs still determined to keep hold of their star player.

City began their Premier League title defence with a defeat at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur after a Son Heung-min goal got Spurs all three points.

Former Manchester City defender Michael Ball believes that City need Kane, telling Transfer Tavern: “He is much needed for Manchester City, not just for his goalscoring record, Manchester City are great at scoring goals, but just a different way of playing. They play a great style of football, they won the league last year with no number nine up front, but they failed in the Champions League. 

“When they’re struggling and pushing for three points or a Champions League win, a different presence like Harry Kane who just needs that one or two opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net could make the difference and fingers crossed it can.”

Kane’s goalscoring record is phenomenal throughout his career, as he has scored 248 goals in all competitions, with 221 of those goals coming in a Tottenham shirt!

With just a week to go until the transfer window closes, will Manchester City be able to agree a deal with Tottenham Hotspur for Harry Kane or will Spurs remain strong in their stance that they want to keep hold of their star player and Kane remains at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium beyond the August 31 deadline?

Former Premier League midfielder Carlton Palmer is confident that Paul Pogba will remain at Manchester United following an update on his future.

Pogba is out of contract at the end of the season and has been linked with a move to Paris Saint-Germain.

However, according to Sky Sports, after United’s stunning transfer business that saw Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane all join the club, the Frenchman is warming to the idea of staying at Old Trafford and putting pen to paper on a new deal.

And Palmer firmly believes that will be the outcome. The ex-Leeds United and Southampton player exclusively told TT:

“I’d always thought he’d re-sign his contract there, I always thought that. I never thought he was going to leave.

“Ole’s made it very, very clear he’s a very integral part and the team’s going to be built around him.”

Whether Pogba goes or not, United will still have an exciting team going into next season after signing the likes of Ronaldo and Sancho, while they already possessed the talented Bruno Fernandes.

Unsurprisingly, the former has been able to make an immediate impact following his return to Old Trafford, bagging two goals on his second debut against Newcastle United last weekend.

Southampton have joined Tottenham in the race to sign West Brom goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, according to The Sun.

The Lowdown: Forster to depart?

Ralph Hasenhuttl has Alex McCarthy, Fraser Forster and youngster Harry Lewis as options in goal on the south coast, although Forster, who has been on the books at St Mary’s since 2014, has less than 12 months remaining on his current deal.

Southampton are expecting to lose the 33-year-old at the end of the campaign, and it seems as if they already have a target in mind to bring in.

The Latest: Nixon’s claim

Alan Nixon of The Sun shared a story late on Saturday night claiming the Saints have joined Spurs and West Ham in the race for Johnstone’s services.

The West Brom goalkeeper, who shares the same agency as Che Adams, is also out of contract at the end of the season, but Southampton are willing to pay for the 28-year-old in a potential New Year deal instead of waiting until next summer.

The Verdict: Smart move?

Both McCarthy and Forster are over 30 years of age and earn a combined £120,000 per week, so bringing in Johnstone, who is on £32,500-a-week at The Hawthorns, could be a shrewd move.

He’s three years younger than McCarthy and five younger than Forster and also has Premier League and international experience.

The Saints are clearly admirers if they are willing to pay a fee for the Baggies star with so little time left to run on his contract, but it still may work out as a smart piece of business if they spend to bring him to St Mary’s.

In other news: Lots of Saints fans were excited over this piece of ‘great news’ in recent days

New Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira will be looking to kick off his tenure at the club with an opening day victory against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Former England boss Roy Hodgson departed the south London outfit following four relatively successful years with the Eagles, and Vieira has wasted no time in making his mark on the playing squad.

Several ageing campaigners have left Selhurst Park on free transfers, while multiple young and exciting acquisitions have taken their place.

It’s an exciting new era for the capital club, but one full of unknowns as they head into what could be a tricky transitional period.

Vieira will be unable to call upon long-term absentees Eberechi Eze and Nathan Ferguson for the short trip from south to west London, and the Frenchman confirmed that Luka Milivojevic and Michael Olise will join the pair on the sidelines.

“Luka is not going to be with us against Chelsea. He’s been missing the last couple of days of training for personal reasons,” Vieira revealed in Friday’s press conference.

When asked about the fitness of summer signing Olise, the former Nice manager replied: “Michael is feeling better. In the next two weeks he will be starting to do some work on the field.”

However, one new arrival in line for his debut is centre-back Joachim Anderson, with Vieira confirming that the Denmark international will be part of the matchday squad.

“We’re going to do our last training this afternoon. He will be part of the squad, yes,” he concluded.

With that in mind, here’s how Football Fan Cast thinks Vieira will line up his side for the tricky trip to Stamford Bridge…

The ever-dependable Vicente Guaita will resume his residency between the sticks for Palace this afternoon, keeping former England international Jack Butland on the bench.

Ahead of the Spaniard, both Marc Guehi and Andersen are set to make their debuts following their arrivals from Chelsea and Lyon respectively. They’ll be flanked by 21-year-old academy graduate Tyrik Mitchell and the experienced Joel Ward at full-back.

In midfield, Jairo Riedewald will provide the base to Palace’s engine room in Milivojevic’s absence, while loanee Conor Gallagher is ineligible to feature against his parent club. That means Jeffrey Schlupp and Cheikhou Kouyate should feature from the off.

Talisman Wilfried Zaha remains at his boyhood club despite openly expressing his desire to seek pastures new and should be partnered by Christian Benteke and Jordan Ayew in the front three.

That lineup will see Vieira make four changes from the last starting XI Hodgson selected against Liverpool on the closing day of 2020/21, highlighting the new chapter beginning in south London.

In other news… Imagine him and Gallagher: Parish must sanction Palace swoop for £10m monster 

Journalist Pete O’Rourke has suggested that Leeds United ‘like’ Ross Barkley ahead of the January window, Give Me Sport report.

The Lowdown: Barkley links

Barkley, described as ‘first class’ by former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard, spent a brief time at Elland Road on loan back in 2013.

The attacking midfielder made just four Championship appearances for the Whites and has now been linked with a return to Yorkshire.

Leeds are short of midfield options at this moment in time and are thought to be monitoring the 28-year-old ahead of the New Year.

The Latest: O’Rourke’s claim

O’Rourke was talking to Give Me Sport in a story shared on Wednesday evening – 24 hours on from Leeds’ 7-0 defeat to Manchester City.

This is what he had to say, believing an attacking midfielder isn’t a priority for Marcelo Bielsa.

“They do like him [Barkley], but I don’t think it’s a major priority for Marcelo Bielsa to bring in another attacking midfielder.”

The Verdict: Avoid…

Leeds have Rodrigo and Tyler Roberts who can play just in behind the striker, however, their only out and out defensive midfielder, Kalvin Phillips, is sidelined for two months with a hamstring issue.

On that basis, a move for Barkley should be avoided, with the main aim to bring in a defensive-minded midfielder.

Hopefully, that is what happens over the coming weeks, as failing to add to their defensive and central ranks could prove costly with Leeds currently flirting with the bottom three after just three wins all season.

In other news: Second Leeds man injured vs City alongside Shackleton; issues reach breaking point. 

The Liverpool ownership FSG will be having nightmares about what could have been if the club had signed German star Mario Götze back in 2016.

Ahead of Klopp’s first full season in charge at Anfield, it wasn’t surprising to see him linked with players he’d worked with in the past. One of those was Götze.

The world cup winner was at Bayern Munich at the time and his spell there wasn’t going to plan having made only 14 appearances the season before.

The German giants wanted £30m for him but Liverpool were only willing to pay £15m – £20m which was well below what Bayern paid for him.

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Götze was keen to move away from the Allianz Arena at the time and eventually opted for a move back to former club Dortmund instead of reuniting with Klopp in the Premier League.

His best years were during his first spell Signal Iduna Park, where he’d been described as “special” by reporter Liam Twomey and was a key part of Klopp’s success there.

In his second spell at the club he made 103 appearances and was involved in 31 goals, before eventually moving to the Eredivisie where he now plays at PSV Eindhoven.

Overall his career hasn’t been bad by all means, he has won the Bundesliga five times and most famously the World Cup in 2014 where he scored the winner in the final for Germany.

His legacy will forever be remembered because of that. He was so young at the time and achieved everything every young boy dreams of, so why at 29-years of age are we not talking about him being one of the best midfielders in the world?

Well, he’s had his fair share of injuries and ultimately it seems as though he peaked at a young age. You can’t blame him for moving to serial winners Bayern at the time, but just how good could he be now if he had followed Klopp to Merseyside?

He seems to think he would have been better for it. In a recent interview cited by the Mail he revealed how he “should have joined Liverpool” and that manager Klopp had the biggest impact on his career.

Not many players have had the privilege of playing under both Klopp and Guardiola but Götze is one of them. Could he still potentially join Liverpool at some point in the future?

He’s been performing well since moving to PSV with 17 goals and the same number of assists in 71 appearances, however, he isn’t at the level required for a Liverpool player.

He won’t regret much in his career given everything he’s won, but in the back of his mind, he may always think about what could have been if he had made the bold decision to move to England.

IN other news: Sources: Liverpool now set to sign “generational” ace, he’s more exciting than Carvalho

The January transfer window is set to be a frantic state of affairs for Newcastle with the Toon Army recently taken over by the Saudi Prince Investment Fund.

It’ll be an exciting time for Magpies supporters as they can finally look forward to a period of spending, rather than having to sit back and watch a number of uninspiring signings walk through the door as they did under Mike Ashley.

What’s the word?

One of the areas Newcastle should look to strengthen over the winter is in forward areas. They have already been touted with moves for players like Mauro Icardi and Dusan Vlahovic but it’s a Premier League based player who has now caught their eye.

According to French outlet, Jeunes Footeux, Nicolas Pepe has emerged on the radar of the northeast club.

The Arsenal winger is also fielding interest from Crystal Palace and Everton as the Gunners’ £72m record-signing potentially faces the exit door.

Imagine him & ASM

There is no denying that Pepe quite clearly possesses a quite incredible amount of ability. On his day, he has the ability to “ignite” games in the words of Toon legend Alan Shearer, but on other days, he’s “not bothered” to quote Newcastle’s famous number 9 again.

Criticism has impacted his time in north London considerably with the Ivorian even believed to have been left “hurting” according to Mikel Arteta after a barrage of comments from Shearer.

That said, despite his shoddy work ethic, he’s a player that Newcastle supporters could relish seeing in action, particularly alongside Allan Saint-Maximin.

The Frenchman is a bundle of energy in forward areas and has recorded 4.1 dribbles per game this term, the second-highest number in the entire English top-flight.

Coincidentally, that’s an area where Pepe thrives in too. Although his numbers aren’t quite so astronomical, he possesses the ability to beat most full-backs in Europe, recording 1.9 dribbles per match this term.

He is an inconsistent figure, something Saint-Maximin can relate to, but the thought of witnessing the two wing wizards dominating the flanks at St James’ Park is a thought worth salivating over.

Combine that with Eddie Howe’s desire for possession-based football and Pepe would surely feel right at home after his spell at Arsenal.

Although he has flattered to deceive in England, the Ivory Coast international has still found the net 25 times for the Gunners in just over two years. To put that into context, Callum Wilson has scored exactly the same number over a parrel period of time.

Push all of those combinations together and Newcastle could end up having quite the strike force if they can lure Pepe further north in January.

AND in other news, Howe could finally axe Joelinton if NUFC swoop for £31.5m-rated “phenomenon”…

Speaking to GiveMeSport, journalist Dean Jones has been left ‘astounded’ by some transfer news he’s heard from Tottenham Hotspur.

The Lowdown: Major claim emerges…

Last week, some shock transfer news emerged involving Tottenham and a veteran, big name forward.

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Indeed, according to Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport, as shared by The Sun, the Lilywhites became surprise contenders to sign former Man City star Carlos Tevez on a free transfer.

A trip to Hotspur Way to meet manager Antonio Conte was apparently in the pipeline following the Argentine’s visits to both Inter Milan and Juventus beforehand.

The Latest: Jones ‘astounded’…

Speaking to GMS, transfer reporter Jones has explained his bemusement after hearing the news, claiming the Spurs link comes as an ‘utterly bizarre’ one.

He explained: “It would be utterly bizarre. He’s 38 and he hasn’t been playing football this season. He is the complete opposite profile of player they’ve been actively looking for in terms of a new forward option. If Carlos Tevez signs for Tottenham, I would be absolutely astounded, I just don’t see it happening.”

The Verdict: Correct…

Signing the 38-year-old would certainly turn a few heads both in and out of the club.

Once one of the Premier League’s biggest forward stars, scoring 73 goals and assisting 35 others over nearly 150 outings for Man City, Tevez is quite clearly past the peak of his powers.

The South American has been without a club since leaving Boca Juniors last year and we believe he is certainly unlikely to find a new home at Spurs.

In other news: Tottenham official dispatched as Conte now eyes ’emerging superstar’ signing, find out more here.