Rodgers laments 'frustrating' injury woes as defender ruled out for Saints clash

Brendan Rodgers has spoke of frustrations at Celtic’s ongoing injury woes as he revealed another defender has suffered a setback.

Liam Scales has been ruled out of this weekend’s game against St Johnstone and joins a long list of players to miss key games this season.

The champions have been boosted by the return of Cameron Carter-Vickers who Rodgers says is available to play on Saturday as they look to reclaim top spot in the Premiership.

Reo Hatate is also on his way back from a long-term injury and has returned to training but won’t be available until after the international break at the earliest.

Meanwhile captain Callum McGregor is still around two weeks away from returning to lead the side in the race for the title.

Others such as Greg Taylor, Maik Nawrocki, Stephen Welsh, Alistair Johnston and Tomoki Iwata have all been out for spells this season meaning Rodgers has struggled to find consistency in his team selection.

Speaking to the press on Friday ahead of the game against Craig Levein’s side, the Celtic boss said: “Reo (Hatate’s) not an option for this weekend, we will look at that again after the international break, thankfully he is back training with the squad now but he still has a bit of work to do over the next few weeks in terms of his actual football fitness.

“I expect Callum (McGregor) to be back after the international break, he’s feeling good but we will assess him again after the next week to ten days and see if he’s ready for the Livingston game.

“Cameron Carter-Vickers is fine, he has trained and looks good, so that’s great that he’s available. But Liam Scales will miss the game as he picked up a knock in training.

“He has been really robust and everything about him has been great for us since he came into the team, so sadly he misses this game as he has played virtually every other minute. He should be back after the international break as well.

“It’s been an issue throughout the team but mainly in that defensive line were your stability comes from, so it’s a shame for Liam as he’s had a great run.

“The biggest frustration for me over the course of this season is not being able to put out our strongest eleven but the players have given me everything up until this point, they’ve worked really so hard and we can still finish of the season on a really high moment.”

Celtic are currently two points behind league leaders Rangers at the top of the Premiership but will leapfrog their city-rivals if they can take three points at home against the Perth side on Saturday with Philippe Clement’s men not in action until they travel to Dundee on Sunday.