Celtic hope to put Europa League setback behind them with win over Dundee United

Glasgow // Celtic manager Ronny Deila says it is important to keep his side’s Europa League defeat to Molde in perspective as the Hoops prepare to host Dundee United on Sunday.

Deila’s side slumped to a 3-1 defeat in Norway that left them bottom of Group A after three games.

However, Celtic remain in the hunt for both domestic cups and could cement their place at the top of the Scottish Premiership with a win over United.

Celtic manager Deila says his team are focused on returning to winning ways against the league’s basement side.

“We have to get back to good performances and the only thing we can do is look forward and do it on Sunday,” Deila said.

“This year has been better than last year. Last year, especially in the beginning, there were no good performances but we ended quite well. We went through in the Europa League and had a good game against Inter Milan.

“This year we’ve had some good games and had bad games against Malmo and Molde, but we’ve won more games than we did last year. We’re still in it and we have a chance. Domestically we have a good chance too.

“We have to keep our feet on the ground. To win leagues and trophies is important, and it’s also important to see the positive things. We are top of the league and in both cups. We won two trophies last year and there are a lot of positives.

“The performance on Thursday wasn’t good enough but against the other two teams in the group we had good performances.”

Celtic could welcome back winger James Forrest for the match against United after he missed the past two games through injury but the match will come too early for new signing Carlton Cole, with the former West Ham striker struggling for match fitness.

New Dundee United boss Mixu Paatelainen also has a number of injury problems as he attempts to lead his side to their first victory in 10 matches.

The former Finland manager, who replaced Jackie McNamara at the Tannadice club earlier this month, will be without Mario Bilate, Chris Erskine, Paul Dixon, Paul Paton and defender Callum Morris for the match.

Paatelainen saw his side lose his first game in charge 1-0 to Hearts last weekend and he was realistic about the challenge his side, rooted to the bottom of the table, face against the Scottish champions.

“We’ll need to be careful about how many players we commit forward but we know how we can attack them and I hope we’ll make some good chances,” the United manager said.

“We need to be patient about it because we don’t want to shoot ourselves in the foot in a tough match. At some stage Celtic will come at us in numbers, that is when we must be organised.

“Rest assured that both defensively and offensively my players will know what to do on Sunday.”

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