SPL: Thompson out of Old Firm clash

Alan Thompson has been ruled out of Sunday's Old Firm clash with Rangers after having an appeal against his weekend red card upheld by the Scottish Football Association.

The Celtic midfielder appeared in person at Hampden Park along with Aberdeen midfielder Hicham Zerouali, who was also sent off after clashing in last weekend's match.

The disciplinary panel decided to uphold referee John Underhill's decision regarding Thompson and reduce the Moroccan's dismissal to just a caution.

A Celtic spokesman confirmed: "We've had our appeal rejected and I believe that Zerouali's has been reduced to yellow card."

It has also emerged that the former Aston Villa and Bolton man will miss two further SPL games after an additional 12 points were added to his disciplinary record.

The news is a big blow to Martin O'Neill, who is already suffering from selection problems ahead of the big Glasgow clash.

Henrik Larsson, Joos Valgaeren, Bobo Balde, Chris Sutton, Johan Mjallby and Bobby Petta have all been recovering from injuries which forced the Celtic boss to field a weakened team last week.

Celtic, however, have the comfort of a 10-point lead at the summit and require just four more wins to retain the title.

They will also have John Hartson back from suspension after his sending-off in the Scottish Cup game at Pittodrie, but O'Neill is certain not to quite see it that way.