BRENDAN Rodgers has provided fitness updates on the three Celtic players who came off injured during Celtic’s 2-0 win over Hibernian at Easter Road this afternoon.
The Scottish champions recorded a comfortable triumph in Leith thanks to first half Nicolas Kuhn and Callum McGregor goals to return to the top of the William Hill Premiership table.
But Parkhead right back Alistair Johnston, striker Kyogo Furuhashi and winger Mikey Johnston all came off in the second half of the league win in the capital.
Rodgers, who put Mikey Johnston on for Furuhashi up front with 15 minutes remaining, admitted that he is keen to strengthen his squad with more new signings in the coming weeks.
However, he stressed that he has no concerns about the trio who had to be replaced due to knocks during the Hibs game.
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Asked about Furuhashi, he said: "His shoulder popped out. I think it's just one of those ones that he had a fall and it knocked it out. The guys put it back in again, but he felt the soreness. I don't need to risk him.
"We know what we need. We've always known what we need. My focus is really with the players who are here. Hopefully we can strengthen the squad over the coming weeks. There are other players who can go in and play that position. And that's what we have to do while we're waiting for players to come in.
"Mikey was precautionary, really. He felt a wee bit dazed when he came off. I didn't think it was a penalty, but he was dazed enough in the challenge. He was a wee bit blurred in his vision, so he came off.
"Ali just felt a wee bit of tightness, so there was no need to risk it when we’ve got Tony Ralston on the side. And, yes, they closed the game out really well."
Luis Palma, who came off with an ankle injury during Celtic's 4-0 win over Kilmarnock last weekend, was absent from the squad today and Rodgers expects him to be missing for some time.
"He's probably 10 days to a couple of weeks away," he said. "I think when you watch the challenge back, it was a really nasty injury for him. And he'd done amazing to play on when you actually see the rotation in his ankle. So he's obviously still a wee bit of time away, but it’s great to have Daizen (Maeda) back."
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Asked about his side's display against Hibs, Rodgers said: "The result and performance were very good.
"Easter Road is one of the toughest places to come in Scottish football, so I thought we managed the game very well. We made a great start, which you want. We scored two very good goals and we were really slick in other moments in the game.
"In the second half, we just had a little spell where the game became too long for us. We didn't shorten the game how we normally do and play quickly through the lines, so it got stretched a wee bit too much for my liking. But we always had control of the game. If I was nitpicking, I would say we have to be more clinical.
"We scored two and again could have had four or five. So the creative side's there, balance was really good in the team and it's a very good win for us."
