Celtic received a fillip yesterday with the news that Joe Ledley and Biram Kayal are fit enough to return to the first team.
Both players may feature tonight against Raith Rovers in the Scottish Communities League Cup, while Neil Lennon is also hopeful that Georgios Samaras will recover from an elbow injury in time to face Spartak Moscow next week in the Champions League.
The good news for Lennon was not confined to Celtic Park, since the Russian side have also lost two key players to injury. The Brazilian internationalist Romulo is out for the season after tearing his cruciate ligament during Spartak's league win last weekend over Rostov and the Spanish midfielder, Jose Manuel Jurado, is also expected to be sidelined for three weeks after damaging his knee.
"This is a terrible shame for Romulo and we hope he recovers as quickly as possible," said Unai Emery, the Spartak manager. "Jurado will also be missing for a few weeks, so the win has come at a big cost."
Lennon's concerns are more prosaic. Lassad Nouioui, Miku Fedor and Mikael Lustig did not make the squad for the Raith Rovers game, while Scott Brown has been rested, but the return of Ledley and Kayal is a significant boost to the side.
"We're pretty pleased to have them up and running," Lennon said. "It's huge for us because we're pretty light – if anything had happened to Scotty or Victor [Wanyama] we'd have been short [in central midfield]. We've got a bit of depth with these guys coming back.
"[Samaras] is only doing a little bit [of training] to keep himself ticking over, he's not anywhere near full pelt yet, but we're hoping in a week or so we'll have him back. There's a good chance he'll be fit for Moscow."
There was further encouragement for Lennon after Wanyama pledged his future to the club. The midfielder had been attracting the attention of several Barclays Premier League sides during the transfer window, but he insisted yesterday he wants to remain in Glasgow and is keen to sign an extended contract.
"I am really happy here and looking forward to staying here for many years," Wanyama said. "Celtic is a big club, we are in the Champions League. I don't think I can get any better than it is here. That [adulation] from the fans and the atmosphere for Champions League games is fantastic."
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