CELTIC'S injury concerns worsened yesterday after Beram Kayal and Virgil van Dijk both suffered knocks against Inverness Caledonian Thistle that make them doubtful for Wednesday's Champions League tie against Shakhter Karagandy.
Kayal is almost certain to miss the game after damaging his groin.
He lasted only 22 minutes of the 2-2 draw with at Celtic Park. Van Dijk felt a twinge in his hamstring, but could still feature against Karagandy, who bring a 2-0 lead to Glasgow following last Tuesday's first leg.
There were already injury fears surrounding Georgios Samaras and Kris Commons but the Celtic manager is confident both will be fit enough to return to the starting line-up.
"They are looking really optimistic," Lennon said. "James Forrest and Derk Boerrigter are probably 50/50.
"We will have to see how they come on in the next couple of days. Anthony Stokes had a scan and it is a Grade One calf strain. He is doubtful.
"Kayal will be out. Virgil got a wee bit of twinge as well from his hamstring.
"So we are really, really stretched, but it is what is and you have got to get on with it.
"Stokesie did a little light training on Thursday and he felt it again. The scan has proved there is more than just a kick there.
"He thinks he might be able to participate but we will have to see how it is."
Lennon denied that Celtic have made an offer for Cameron Stewart, the Hull City winger, but reiterated his hope of signing two players early this week, one a striker and one a midfielder.
"We are looking to get one done over the next couple of days," Lennon said. "We have another one's representatives in on Monday, so I am hoping we will have two by midweek."
Richard Wilson
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article