Larsson fit for Old Firm clash

Celtic striker Henrik Larsson today gave the champions a pre Old Firm boost by declaring himself fit for Saturday’s clash at Ibrox.

The Swedish international missed last night’s bruising victory at Easter Road after catching a virus from his son Jordan.

But Larsson, with 26 goals in all competitions already this season, reported for training at Parkhead this morning and was given the all-clear for the weekend crunch.

It gave manager Martin O’Neill more good news as his injury fears easing all the time as they look to maintain their lead at the top of the Scottish Premier League.

Following checks with the medical staff this morning, Bobo Balde, Joos Valgaeren, Momo Sylla, Alan Thompson and Ulrik Laursen have been told that they can resume training tomorrow despite sustaining knocks in the Scottish capital.

The news means that O’Neill will not have to rush Johan Mjallby back into action after coming through 45 minutes of his comeback game during the week.

But the Celtic manager’s only concern ahead of the big Glasgow derby hangs over Larsson’s strike partner Chris Sutton.

The Englishman is still being troubled by a hip injury picked up in training on Tuesday which forced him to miss last night’s win over Hibernian.

Although the injury is not considered to be too serious a decision on his availability will be made tomorrow morning.

With Celtic facing a return leg against Celta Vigo in the UEFA Cup on Thursday night, O’Neill will not gamble on his fitness on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Larsson has learned that he is third in the race for the Golden Shoe – which he won two years ago.

Andrei Krolov of Estonian side FC TVMK leads with 37 goals from Arman Karamyan of Armenian club Pyunik, who has netted 36 times this season.

Larsson is behind with 19 SPL goals and he is ahead of his former Celtic team-mate Harald Brattbakk who has scored 17 times with Norwegian club Rosenborg BK.