Dundee Vs Celtic: Dundee eye rare home double as Celtic make three changes
dundee vs celtic is underway at Dens Park with Dundee targeting a first home double over Celtic since March 1958. Celtic interim manager Martin O’Neill has made three changes to the side beaten at Tannadice before the international break, while Dundee have altered two positions after their narrow defeat by Hearts. The match comes with Celtic having won 13 of the past 14 titles, but also with the champions already having lost eight league games this season.
Team changes set the tone at Dens Park
For Celtic, Auston Trusty comes in to partner Liam Scales in defence, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain returns to midfield, and Tomas Cvancara leads the line. Benjamin Arthur, Reo Hatate and Kelechi Iheanacho all drop to the bench, with Oxlade-Chamberlain making his fourth league start for the club.
Dundee make two changes of their own, with Joe Westley and Ashley Hay dropping out. Yan Dhanda and Simon Murray come in, and the captain is back in the starting XI as Dundee look to build on the momentum of their earlier 2-0 win in October. In the middle of the afternoon, dundee vs celtic has quickly become a test of whether Dundee can finally turn one strong result into something bigger at home.
Lineups show both sides chasing control
The Dundee starting XI is McCracken, Halliday, Astley, Graham, D. Wright, Congreve, Hamilton, Robertson, Yogane, Dhanda and Murray. Their substitutes are O’Hara, Koumetio, Hay, Samuels, Reilly, Westley, Cotterill, S. Wright and Jones.
Celtic line up with Sinisalo, Donovan, Trusty, Scales, Tierney, McGregor, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Nygren, Yang, Maeda and Cvancara. Their bench features Doohan, McCowan, Iheanacho, Tounekti, Saracchi, Hatate, Arthur, Forrest and Ralston.
O’Neill under pressure after recent league setbacks
The wider backdrop remains clear: Celtic have been unusually vulnerable by their standards, and O’Neill said on Friday that any more dropped points would make finishing first “difficult” before adding “but not impossible. ” That warning frames the stakes around a match where Celtic have yet to pick up a point in Dundee this season.
For Dundee, the opportunity is just as sharp. The club are chasing a first home double against Celtic since March 1958, and the context gives dundee vs celtic a rare edge: one side trying to steady a title defence, the other trying to make a small piece of club history. What happens next at Dens Park will shape the conversation well beyond this afternoon.
