Celtic team news: starting line-up v St Johnstone confirmed with 2 changes as Forrest dropped and Turnbull starts

Celtic will brave the sub-zero temperatures when they make the journey to Perth to take on St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park this afternoon.

Brendan Rodgers' side failed to impress against Motherwell in the league last time out on home soil and were then dumped out of the Champions League after a 2-0 loss to Lazio in Rome in midweek.

The Hoops can briefly extend their lead at the summit of the table later today with a victory over Craig Levein's men, with second-placed Rangers squaring off against St Mirren at Ibrox in the later 3pm kick-off.

Celtic had to settle for a lacklustre goalless draw during the previous meeting between these two sides and a positive result would certainly go a long way to lifting supporters spirits after a hugely disappointing week.

Rodgers has made TWO changes to his starting line-up from the team who were beaten 2-0 by Lazio in Europe on Tuesday night. James Forrest and Paulo Bernardo drop to the bench and are replaced in the starting eleven by the returning Luis Palma and David Turnbull.

There's no place among the substitutes for Maik Nawrocki, Marco Tilio, Alexandro Bernabei and Gustaf Lagerbielke, while injured trio Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and Liel Abada are still ruled out.

So here’s your confirmed starting line-ups for this afternoon's Scottish Premiership clash in Perth...

Celtic starting XI (4-3-3)

Joe Hart; Alistair Johnston, Cameron Carter Vickers, Liam Scales, Greg Taylor; Callum McGregor (c), Matt O'Riley, David Turnbull; Yang Hyun-Jun, Luis Palma, Kyogo Furuhashi.

And the bench...

Scott Bain (GK), Nat Phillips, Odin Thiago Holm, Oh Hyeon-gyu, Tomoki Iwata, Paulo Bernardo, James Forrest, Anthony Ralston, Mikey Johnston.

St Johnstone starting XI (3-4-1-2)

Dimitar Mitov, Dara Costelloe, James Brown, Ryan McGowan, Liam Gordon, Luke Robinson, Daniel Phillips, Matthew Smith, Max Kucheryavyi, Graham Carey, Diallang Jaiyesimi.

And the bench...

Dave Richards (GK), Stevie May, Chris Kane, Luke Jephcott, Oludare Olufunwa, Sven Sprangler, Cammy Ballantyne, Jay Turner-Cooke, Fran Franczak.